Mt. Airy man guilty in crash that killed 1, injured 3
An East Mount Airy man was convicted Wednesday of vehicular homicide and other crimes in a 2013 crash on Lincoln Drive that killed his passenger and seriously injured three people.
An East Mount Airy man was convicted Wednesday of vehicular homicide and other crimes in a 2013 crash on Lincoln Drive that killed his passenger and seriously injured three people.
A Common Pleas Court jury of eight men and four women deliberated just 90 minutes before determining that Thomas A. Gooden, 23, was unlicensed and speeding when he caused the predawn crash that killed Ashley Gant Madison, 25.
The jury found Gooden also guilty of 10 counts, including aggravated assault for the other passenger seriously injured in his car and two people in the car he hit.
Gooden appeared emotionless at the verdict. His father and grandmother sat in the gallery, heads bowed, looking grim.
Equally solemn were Madison's godmother and several aunts. None wanted to speak afterward.
According to trial testimony, Madison got engaged a week before the July 13, 2013, crash to Stafford Smith, 29, Gooden's best friend.
That night, Smith threw a party for Madison at his sister's East Mount Airy house. He called Gooden to drive them and mutual friend Bria Stanley, 19, home because they were intoxicated, according to testimony.
Gooden borrowed a friend's 2001 Subaru Outback, picked up his friends, and headed south on a rain-slick Lincoln Drive toward Southwest Philadelphia.
Gooden picked up speed after passing Johnson Street and lost control as he hit a right curve just before Morris Street.
The Outback began to fishtail, and as Gooden tried to correct the skid, the car went into the northbound lanes and crashed into the driver's door of a 2000 Nissan Maxima. The Nissan was pushed backward into a northbound 2000 Honda Civic.
The crash's impact propelled Madison through the Outback's rear cargo window and into the southbound lane, where she suffered a fatal skull fracture.
Stanley, beside Gooden in the front seat, suffered a depressed skull fracture. Smith, in the rear, had minor injuries.
According to Assistant District Attorney Tracie Gaydos, the driver of the Nissan, Angela Terry, 42, sustained a broken wrist and ribs and spinal injuries. Her passenger, Harvey Stratton, 46, suffered a broken hip and other injuries.
Gaydos said the driver of the Honda was not seriously injured.
All three cars were totaled. The crash closed the drive for six hours.
Judge Steven R. Geroff set sentencing for Aug. 18.
Gaydos said Gooden faced a mandatory prison term of one to two years on the most serious charge - leaving the scene of an accident - and as much as 10 years total. She said she did not know what sentence she would seek.
Defense attorney James F. Berardinelli said he would likely appeal. Gooden is already in state prison, serving two to 10 years on a marijuana-dealing conviction after the crash.
The trial, which began May 19, confronted the jury with conflicting opinions by experts in accident reconstruction: William Lackman of the Philadelphia Police Accident Investigation Division and James C. Halikman, a Bucks County accident expert hired by the defense.
Lackman estimated that Gooden was going at least 75 mph when he lost control of the vehicle.
Berardinelli argued that there was no proof Gooden was speeding at 2:43 that morning and that Gooden could just as easily have lost control at 35 mph on the curvy drive.
But even Halikman's calculations had Gooden driving as fast as 54 to 67 mph - at least twice Lincoln Drive's posted 25 mph speed limit.
Gooden did not testify, but Smith did. He said he saw the Outback's speedometer at 25 to 30 mph.
Beyond dispute, however, was the fact that Gooden was driving on a suspended learner's permit.
"This all could have been prevented," Gaydos said. "It was the result of a serious, terrible, and ultimately deadly decision by this man."
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