SUNBURY - A 31-year-old Elizabethville man was found guilty Monday afternoon of 10 charges, including a felony of accidents involving death or personal injury, in connection with a one-car fatal accident three years ago.
The accident in Lower Mahanoy Township claimed the life of 19-year-old Bethany Harris, of Dalmatia, who reportedly jumped from the moving car after it struck an embankment.
Thomas L. Schorr could face a maximum of 11 years imprisonment after being found guilty of the offenses by Northumberland County Judge Charles H. Saylor, who will sentence the defendant at 1:15 p.m. April 29.
Schorr, who had been free on $5,000 bail, was remanded immediately to Northumberland County Prison in Sunbury to await sentencing after Saylor revoked his bail because three bench warrants had been issued against him in the past for failing to appear for legal proceedings involving his case.
The judge issued his guilty verdict on 10 of the 11 charges against Schorr after listening to more than 2 1/2 hours of testimony from seven witnesses, including an accident reconstructionist, Harris' boyfriend, Joel Nies, who also was a passenger in the auto, and Harris' mother and grandparents.
The case focused on causation.
'Long, drawn-out case'
Northumberland County Public Defender Paige Rosini argued that the incident really wasn't an accident because it only resulted in a flat tire. She said the incident didn't cause Harris' death because she voluntarily removed herself from the moving vehicle before hitting her head against a rock and dying the next day.
"My client's actions didn't cause her death," she said.
Rosini requested all the charges be dismissed against her client, claiming the commonwealth failed to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
First Assistant District Attorney Ann Targonski disagreed with the defense attorney, claiming the accident was certainly connected to Harris' death.
She said witnesses testified during Monday's trial that Schorr was driving recklessly, which prompted Harris to jump out of the vehicle for fear of being injured or killed. She also said Schorr failed to stop or slow down despite being yelled at by passengers in the vehicle.
"His conduct placed the passengers in danger of death or serious bodily injury," Targonski said. "It was an accident that resulted in death."
Following the trial, Targonski said, "This has been a long, drawn-out case for the victim's family and this verdict will hopefully assist them with the tragic loss of their daughter, granddaughter and friend."
Rosini and Schorr declined comment after the verdict as did several members of Harris' family.
Schorr, who was wearing a dress shirt, pants and sneakers, appeared nervous throughout the trial and kept his head down during much of the testimony.
Saylor found Schorr guilty of accidents involving death or personal injury while not properly licensed, a misdemeanor of recklessly endangering another person and summaries of driving while operating privilege is suspended or revoked (two counts), failure to drive in a single lane, driving at an unsafe speed, careless driving (two counts), reckless driving and false reports.
The defendant was found not guilty of a seat belt violation. A stop sign violation had been previously dismissed.
Targonski said the defendant could receive a maximum sentence of nine years imprisonment on the felony offense and a maximum sentence of two years incarceration on the recklessly endangering charge.
Scared
Schorr, who was charged by Trooper Barry Wooten of state police at Stonington nearly three months after the accident, lost control of a four-door, 2001 Saturn while traveling around a curve on McKees Road shortly after 4 p.m. April 12, 2010. The car then exited the road and struck an embankment with its passenger side before re-entering the road and continuing toward Lenker Road, police said.
Just past the intersection, Harris opened the rear passenger side door and exited the car while it was still in motion, striking her head on a rock, police said. She sustained critical injuries and was flown by Life Flight helicopter to Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, where she died the next day.
Schorr, Nies, 23, of Northumberland, and another passenger in the car, Jessica Beers, 25, of Millersburg, escaped injury.
Nies, who is currently incarcerated at Snyder County Prison involving a simple assault offense, testified that Schorr and Beers picked him and Harris up at Harris' residence. He said Harris got scared when Schorr started sliding on gravel when pulling away from Harris' home. The witness said he and his girlfriend were sitting in the back of the car, while Schorr and Beers occupied the front seats.
He said Schorr was driving recklessly on the long driveway from Harris' home and was told to stop or slow down by other occupants, but he refused. At one point, Nies said a dog in the back seat jumped out the window.
After going around a sharp curve, Nies said the car went into a ditch before blowing a tire and re-entering the road. He said Harris jumped out the rear passenger door a short time later because she was afraid of the way Schorr was driving.
Following his testimony, Nies stared at Schorr while he was being escorted from the courtroom in leg shackles by Deputy Sheriff Robert Wolfe.
Harris' mother, Rebecca Harris, said she didn't know Schorr or Beers when they came to pick up her daughter and Nies to "hang out" at Schorr's residence.
She recalled hearing the car "burn out" when it left her home.
Fearing her daughter may be in danger, Harris said she grabbed her cell phone and attempted to call her daughter twice before receiving a call from Nies. She said, "Joel called me screaming hysterically to come over there."
Rebecca Harris said she drove quickly to the accident scene, which was only about one mile away. The witness said she found her daughter unconscious before calling 911.
She said Nies was comforting her daughter when she arrived, while Schorr had his hands behind his head in a lounging position near the car.
The witness said her daughter was initially treated at the scene by medical personnel before being transported by ambulance to a nearby ballfield, where a Life Flight helicopter landed and flew her to Geisinger.
Rebecca Harris said her daughter had been involved in an accident in the same general area in January 2010.
The victim's mother said her daughter never regained consciousness and was declared brain dead the following morning.
At least 41 MPH
Cpl. Sean Batterson, a collision analyst and accident reconstructionist from the state police station at Coudersport, who inspected the scene, said he discovered 20 feet of skid marks from the car just before it left the road. He said the car traveled 185 feet after hitting the embankment.
Upon taking measurements, thoroughly examining the scene and applying the law of physics, Batterson said he determined the pre-impact minimum speed of the car was 41 miles per hour. The corporal said he couldn't determine a maximum pre-impact speed.
He said the car would have had to be traveling 36 miles per hour or slower to safely negotiate the sharp turn along McKees Road.
Wooten testified Schorr and Beers initially told him Beers was driving the car before admitting that they lied because Schorr's license was suspended at the time.
The trooper said Beers was the owner of the vehicle.
He recalled Nies telling him that Schorr should be arrested for driving under the influence. But Wooten said he found no evidence that Schorr had been driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Wooten said the area where the accident occurred has a speed limit of 55 miles per hour, but noted there are no speed limit signs nearby.
The trooper said he conducted interviews and processed the scene of the accident.
Wooten, who said it was clear and sunny on the day of the accident, said he was informed that Harris opened the back door of the car and either rolled or jumped out of the vehicle.
Rebecca Harris' parents, Charles and Gloria Brown, who live near their daughter, testified they saw Schorr driving fast down the driveway.
Charles Brown said the car wasn't able to negotiate a sharp curve along the road and traveled into a ditch before returning to the road and "flying" past a stop sign.
Gloria Brown recalled being very upset with Schorr and saying something to him at the scene of the accident.
Lower Mahanoy Township Police Chief Randall Wynn, who responded to the crash approximately 1 1/2 miles from his home, said he talked to Schorr and Nies at the scene. He said Schorr, who was changing a tire on the car when he arrived, didn't seem overly concerned about the accident.
Wynn said he turned the accident investigation over to Wooten.