Published: November 23, 2009 11:07 pm      

DUI driver gets jail in fatal crash

Portage man not at fault in wreck that killed four

EBENSBURG — With the grieving families of four young men killed in a crash sobbing in the courtroom, a Portage man was sentenced Monday to three to

15 months in prison, plus suspension of his driver’s license for 15 months, in the wreck which authorities said was not his fault.

Judge Gerard Long gave the maximum penalty available to James Earl Gaunt, a first-time drunken driving offender, despite the emotional Gaunt saying, “I wish I could take back that night. I’ve had flashbacks since the accident.”

But, as Marion Zunich, whose son, Ryan, 26, died in the accident, said, “You were driving drunk and speeding. Had you not been on that road, the matter may have ended differently. You’re just as responsible in our eyes as the other driver.”

Gaunt, 35, who had told the judge he had heart problems, collapsed onto a hallway floor as deputies escorted him from the courtroom. His pregnant wife began sobbing and was assisted to a nearby chair while deputies attempted to revive Gaunt until emergency personnel arrived on the scene.

Gaunt was transported by the Ebensburg EMS Ambulance to Memorial Medical Center in Johnstown. Further information was not available from the hospital.

In September, Gaunt pleaded guilty to drunken driving, speeding, not having the required financial responsibility and public drunkenness in the July 13, 2008, crash.

State police said that Gaunt’s blood-alcohol level was 0.09 percent, just slightly above the 0.08 percent defined as legal intoxication. His truck was traveling at 45 mph in the 25-mph zone on Shady Springs Road, police said.

A state police accident-reconstructionist determined that the other driver, identified as Richard McKrush, 22, had been traveling at 55 mph when his car crossed the center line and hit Gaunt’s oncoming truck. McKrush’s blood-alcohol level was 0.16 percent, it was reported.

District Attorney Patrick Kiniry said that the same conclusion about the cause of the accident was reached by two other accident reconstructionists who looked at the evidence. Because of the police findings,the police did not charge Gaunt with vehicular homicide or involuntary manslaughter.

McKrush also was killed in the accident along with Joseph Krug, 25; Eric Secriskey, 25; and Zunich, all passengers in the McKrush car. A fifth man in McKrush’s car was injured, as were Gaunt and his two passengers.

Zunich, barely able to speak as she broke into tears, told Gaunt, “You’ve been given a second chance at your life. Make it useful. Do something with it. The only thing we have to hold onto is our memories. It’s a nightmare that never ends.”

Another parent, Richard McKrush, said, “It seems that he (Gaunt) has no remorse for what happened. He doesn’t know how bad he hurt our families.”

Parents of the other young men, in both letters to the judge and in comments in the courtroom, asked Long to impose as long a sentence as possible.

Kenneth Sottile, a public defender who represents Gaunt, urged the judge to treat his client no differently than other first-time DUI offenders.

“Obviously this is a very difficult case for everyone, and the families naturally are grieving. But I believe the court has to separate the emotions and what the law provides ... There is no evidence that Mr. Gaunt was responsible,” Sottile said.

However, Kelly Callihan, first assistant district attorney, in asking for the maximum sentence possible, said, “The truth is four individuals are dead, and this makes it different from other DUIs.”