A drunk driver who lost control of his vehicle last winter in Bethlehem Township and crashed into a tree line, killing his passenger, learned his sentence Tuesday.
Northampton County Common Pleas Court Judge John Morganelli sentenced 32-year-old Randy D. Donato to four to 10 years in prison, according to the office of county District Attorney Stephen Baratta.
Bethlehem Township police responding to the crash Jan. 5 said they found two occupants in the vehicle that had run off the north side of William Penn Highway near Chipman Road.
Donato’s passenger, 35-year-old Nicole Danielle Guzman, was unresponsive and pronounced dead at the crash scene, authorities said.
Donato was injured in the crash and taken to an area hospital, where township police interviewed him, according to a news release from the district attorney’s office.
Investigators determined Donato’s blood-alcohol level was 0.208, the release states. Penalties begin for most drivers with a BAC of 0.08.
Police also found a flask on Donato, as well as two beer-bottle caps and a 22-ounce bottle of Guinness inside his vehicle, Baratta’s office said in the release Tuesday.
Donato pleaded guilty Sept. 29 to homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence as well as Pennsylvania’s highest-rate-of-alcohol DUI charge.
Township police Investigator Adam Ebner led the department’s probe into the crash. Deputy District Attorney Joseph Lupackino prosecuted the case.