Published: Friday, May 16, 2008 11:47 AM EDT Neil R. Hatfield, drunk when he crashed his car in Hegins Township in August 2006, killing his passenger, must spend 3 and a half to 7 and a half years behind state prison bars, a Schuylkill County judge ordered Thursday.
While Shannon A. Sullivan’s family shed tears, Hatfield, 24, of Tremont, did not react as President Judge William E. Baldwin sentenced him to a state correctional institution for crimes resulting from the accident in which the 22-year-old Pine Grove woman died.
Although Hatfield apologized near the end of the 45-minute hearing for the accident and Shannon Sullivan’s death, the apology had little effect on Baldwin, who did not like seeing pictures that one witness said showed Hatfield partying at his home three months after the accident with teenagers who were drinking alcohol.
“You’re saying you felt bad but that’s not what your actions are saying,” said Baldwin, who also sentenced Hatfield to pay costs, $555 in fines, $100 to the Substance Abuse Education Fund, $50 to the Criminal Justice Enhancement Account and $5,611 restitution to William Sullivan, Shannon’s father, and to submit a DNA sample to law enforcement authorities.
A county jury convicted Hatfield on March 4 after a two-day trial of homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence, aggravated assault while DUI, homicide by vehicle, involuntary manslaughter, DUI and recklessly endangering another person. Baldwin, who presided over the trial, found him guilty of reckless driving, careless driving, stop sign violation and failure to drive at a safe speed.
Hegins Township police charged Hatfield with DUI at 1:38 a.m. Aug. 19, 2006, at Schwenks Road and Gap Street between Valley View and Good Spring. Hatfield, who had a blood alcohol level of .15 percent — almost twice the legal limit of .08 percent — lost control of his 2006 Honda Civic while driving too fast on Schwenks Road, failed to stop at a stop sign and crashed into a rock embankment, causing the car to flip over, according to police.
Shannon Sullivan, a 2002 graduate of Pine Grove Area High School, where she was a star volleyball player, died at the scene. Her death has torn an unmendable hole in her family, her mother said.
“A chunk has been taken out” of our family, Dorothy Sullivan testified as her husband stood by her and many of the 35 spectators wept with her.
John Gump, Shannon Sullivan’s coach at Kutztown University, remembered her as a remarkable athlete and person.
Telling his players that Sullivan had died hurt deeply, according to Gump.
Chastity Schneck, the prosecution’s other witness, did not talk of sorrow or pain; instead, she testified that Hatfield hosted parties at his house in November 2006 where she and other then-underage people drank alcohol.
Those parties were “a slap in the face” by Hatfield to the Sullivan family, Assistant District Attorney A.J. Serina said in asking for a stiff sentence.
“A family will forever be without their daughter, their sibling,” he said.
Ronald R. Pellish, Pottsville, Hatfield’s attorney, apologized for what his client did.
Pellish declined to comment after the hearing, while Serina said he was satisfied with the result.
Dorothy Sullivan hopes people remember her daughter, who was going to be a teacher and already had student-taught at Schuylkill Haven Area Elementary School, as a special person.
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