Sentencing delayed over report on August accident
The 35-year-old Dagsboro man who drove the vehicle that struck and killed two people in a car leaving the GlenRiddle development this past summer will not be sentenced until the end of January because the accident reconstruction report is not completed.
“It only took George Frederick Handel 22 days to write the Messiah,” said Judge Patrick Hayman in District Court in Ocean City on Monday, when he complained about the lengthy time it was taking Maryland State Police to finish the report.
Hayman had found Howard Lynch III guilty minutes earlier of driving under the influence of alcohol per se in connection with the collision. That charge focuses on the numerical breath/alcohol or blood/alcohol content at the time of driving rather than observations of field sobriety tests by a law enforcement officer.
James Anthenelli, Lynch’s defense attorney, had entered a technical plea of not guilty to the driving under the influence of alcohol per se charge, but had agreed to the statement of facts in the case as read by Assistant State’s Attorney Mike Farlow.
Anthenelli said the other charges against his client would not be prosecuted, but after hearing the facts of the case, Hayman found Lynch not guilty of driving while intoxicated, driving under the influence, possession of marijuana and possession of paraphernalia. “I didn’t hear anything about marijuana,” Hayman said.
Lynch was not charged with any offenses directly related to the Aug. 17 fatal collision because police said the driver of the other vehicle, 44-year-old Christine Marie Bruno of Berlin, failed to yield the right of way and pulled into the path of Lynch’s truck. Bruno was attempting to leave the development at Holly Grove Road and turn west onto Route 50 at about 11 p.m.
Lynch was unable to stop and hit the driver’s side of Bruno’s car, which spun around 180 degrees before stopping on the median. Police said Bruno was killed on impact and her 14-year-old daughter, Kristin, was taken to Peninsula Regional Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.
A 13-year-old female passenger was flown to a hospital in Baltimore and treated for serious injuries. Lynch was unhurt, but a passenger in his truck was treated at Atlantic General Hospital for minor injuries.
After the collision, Lynch was given a breath/alcohol test that revealed a level of .08, the minimum for a drunken driving arrest.
Farlow said Maryland State Police had finished only the draft copy of the accident reconstruction report and Anthenelli said he preferred sentencing to be deferred until completion of the report.
Hayman instructed Farlow to contact MSP to “light a fire” under the person doing the report. He then scheduled sentencing on Jan. 31.
At the time of the collision, Lt. Doug Dods of the Maryland State Police said it would take two to six months to complete the report.