Pa. Supreme Court won’t hear hear appeal in double fatal case
The state Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal in a homicide by vehicle case in Greene County.
District Attorney Marjorie Fox said she will ask the court to order David Trent Elrod, 48, of Alabama to report to begin serving his sentence of 6 to 22 months for the deaths of David Wimert, 46, and Terry Gene Caryl, 47, both of Port Huron, Mich.
Elrod had been free on bond as he appealed the conviction and sentence. Earlier this year, the state Superior Court rejected Elrod’s contention that prosecutors did not have enough evidence to sustain homicide by vehicle convictions because there was no evidence he recklessly caused the deaths of Caryl and Wimert on April 15, 2008.
The accident occurred on Interstate 79 south between the Waynesburg and Kirby exits when the truck in which Wimert and Caryl were riding was crushed between two tractor-trailer trucks, state police said.
Elrod was driving one of the rigs, and rear-ended the truck the men were in, pushing it into a second tractor-trailer. The truck the two victims were in caught on fire after the crash.
The Superior Court judges found that Elrod was distracted before the crash and did not anticipate an upcoming construction zone.
Testimony during the trial indicated that Elrod was going 65 mph, heading into a construction zone where traffic was stopped. A state police accident reconstructionist testified that Elrod had 24 seconds to react.