A district judge yesterday ordered a Derry Township man to stand trial for homicide by vehicle for a crash last fall that took the life of a Blairsville woman.
20-year-old Samuel Grace was at the wheel of a speeding car that collided head-on with a car driven by 71-year-old Harriet Malloy on October 17th. Malloy died. A 9-month-old great grandchild riding with her escaped injury.
At a preliminary hearing before District Judge Mark Bilik, state troopers testified that Grace was driving between 70 and 76 miles per hour in the 40-mile-per-hour zone on Route 982, and that it had been raining but had stopped.
Grace’s attorney sought to cast doubt on the accuracy of police estimate of his speed, and argued that even if he was going 70 miles per hour, that does not constitute gross negligence or recklessness. According to the state, a driver is guilty of homicide by vehicle when he or she “recklessly or with gross negligence causes the death of another person.”
In addition to homicide by vehicle, Grace is charged with reckless endangerment and summary vehicle code violations. Bilik forwarded all of the charges to court.
