State court upholds Upper Gwynedd man’s sentence for fatal crash

COURTHOUSE >> An Upper Gwynedd man’s conviction and state prison term for causing a one-vehicle crash and leaving the scene without providing aid to his dying passenger will remain intact, according to a state court.

The Pennsylvania Superior Court recently upheld the 3- to 6-year prison term imposed against Sean Christopher Sperl in April 2016 by Montgomery County Judge Gary S. Silow, who presided over Sperl’s jury trial.

“We think the Superior Court made the right decision. It was a hard-fought verdict and we’re glad that they, in their wisdom, upheld it,” county Assistant District Attorney Daniel C. Bardo said in reaction to the state court’s decision. “We’re incredibly proud of the work that our trials division and the police did in getting it to this point and we’re happy with the outcome.”

Sperl, who during the appellate process was represented by defense lawyer Christopher Connard, could still ask the state Supreme Court to review his case.

In his appeals, Sperl, now 25, formerly of the 900 block of Crest Road, maintained his sentence was “unduly excessive” and that there was no basis for the judge to sentence Sperl to an aggravated sentence in connection with the 12:12 a.m. April 23, 2013, crash in Salford that claimed the life of an acquaintance, Ryan Alexander Petrille, 21, of Towamencin, who was riding in the rear seat of Sperl’s sedan.

Sperl claimed Silow abused his discretion by failing to consider Sperl’s rehabilitative needs. The Superior Court judges disagreed.

“The record clearly reflects that the trial court, in fashioning Sperl’s sentence, considered Sperl’s presentence investigation report, his personal background and the circumstances of the offense. Thus, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in fashioning Sperl’s sentence,” the state court judges wrote in their opinion essentially affirming Sperl’s sentence.

Silow previously denied Sperl’s request for a reduced sentence.

Bardo, who appeared before the Superior Court in May to fight the appeal, argued Sperl suggested that the nature of his crimes were not serious and minimized the fact he killed his friend.

“The trial court found his argument to that effect remarkable, and the commonwealth agrees,” Bardo said. “It is so because his crimes strike everyone ? except, evidently, him ? as incredibly grave. It represents an aspect the trial court considered in shaping its sentence: his callous disregard for his late friend’s life.

“That iciness echoes, even when reduced to the cold record and refined through his counsel’s advocacy,” Bardo argued.

During a November 2015 trial, a jury convicted Sperl of charges of homicide by vehicle and accidents involving death or personal injury, or leaving the scene, in connection with the crash that occurred in the 400 block of Ridge Road in Salford.

While Assistant District Attorney Rebecca W. Geiser and co-prosecutor Richard H. Bradbury Jr. alleged Sperl also was intoxicated at the time of the crash, the jury found that intoxication was not a factor, acquitting Sperl of a more serious charge of homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence of alcohol and two counts of DUI. With the acquittal, Sperl avoided a mandatory minimum three-year sentence.

But Silow, at sentencing, said he found aggravating factors in the case and imposed a 3- to 6-year term that was in the upper end of state sentencing guidelines and included consecutive sentences for Sperl’s crimes.

During the sentencing hearing, Silow said he was troubled by Sperl’s lack of remorse and that a lesser sentence would depreciate the seriousness of the crime.

After jurors acquitted Sperl of the DUI-related charges, prosecutors theorized the four-hour time lapse between the crash and when Sperl had a blood test was problematic for the jury. That blood test, according to prosecutors, showed Sperl’s blood-alcohol content was 0.175 percent, which is more than twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent.

At trial, defense lawyer Charles D. Mandracchia suggested Sperl wasn’t drunk at the time of the crash and may have consumed alcohol after the crash, while he was inside a shed for several hours outside a residence near the crash site, resulting in the high blood-alcohol content.

Mandracchia characterized the crash as “an accident.”

During the trial, Geiser and Bradbury alleged Sperl was traveling south on Ridge Road, near Sugar Hill Road, and approached a curve, posted at 35 mph, at between 83 and 93 mph, lost control of his 2000 Honda Civic and struck a utility pole. The Honda split in half.

Petrille, who worked as a roofer in Harleysville, was ejected from the vehicle and was found nearly 70 feet from the point of impact and was pronounced dead at the scene due to traumatic facial and neck injuries, police said.