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5-year sentence for DUI that killed Philly man

A North Philadelphia man found guilty this year of driving while intoxicated and causing a chain-reaction collision that killed one man and seriously injured his girlfriend was sentenced today to 5 to 10 years in prison by a Philadelphia judge.

A North Philadelphia man found guilty this year of driving while intoxicated and causing a chain-reaction collision that killed one man and seriously injured his girlfriend was sentenced today to 5 to 10 years in prison by a Philadelphia judge.

Leroy Johnson, 54, apologized for "my part of this accident" that killed pedestrian Kevin Whye and injured Inia Withers as they stood in the median waiting to cross Broad Street at Erie Avenue on Feb. 26, 2011.

Johnson's comments before he was sentenced angered Common Pleas Court Judge Rose Marie DeFino-Nastasi.

"This was not an accident," DeFino-Nastasi told Johnson. "I'm sorry for my part in the accident? There is no part of this accident. There is you, totally alone, as the cause because of the choices you made."

The judge was required to sentence Johnson to a 3- to 6-year prison term for his conviction on homicide by motor vehicle while driving under the influence and defense attorney Geoffrey Kilroy asked for that sentence.

Kilroy cited Johnson's worsening health problems and said any longer prison term would be "essentially a death sentence for this person."

But the judge disagreed and on 2 to 4 years more for the count of aggravated assault by vehicle involving Withers, who suffered two broken legs and a broken pelvis.

DeFino-Nastasi ordered that Johnson be on court-monitored probation for four years after he is released from prison, including mandatory drug and alcohol testing and treatment. She also fined him $1,000 and ordered him to reimburse Whye's family for $5,075 in outstanding funeral expenses.

Assistant District Attorney Gwenn Cujdik had sought a 6- to 12-year prison term, citing the number of people traumatized in the accident.

Cujdik said that accident occurred about 8:20 p.m. on Feb. 26, 2011 after Johnson, a 15-year housekeeping work at Temple University Hospital, had attended a beef-and-beer fund-raiser at Broad and Erie.

Parked on the northbound side of Broad Street, Johnson made a U-turn across two northbound lanes of traffic and two southbound lanes and hit a car driven by Esther Davis. Davis was returning home from a wedding and had two adult women and four young children passengers.

Cujdik said the force of impact sent Davis' car out of control and into the northbound lanes of Broad Street. Davis' car hit Whye and Withers, as they stood on the median.

The Davis vehicle - with Whye and Withers still on the hood - then hit a parked car containing two women, plowed over a traffic sign and stopped when it hit a tree. The bodies of Whye and Withers wound up on the northbound sidewalk.

Cujdik said Johnson had a blood-alcohol level of .200 - more than twice the legal threshold for drunk-driving - and a history of drug and alcohol abuse. He was also on probation on a no-contest plea to assaulting a police officer who had stopped Johnson with drugs in his possession.

Johnson's defense at trial was that Davis had struck his car, which the jury rejected with its verdict.

Davis wept as she described the nightmare of watching her car kill someone as her car went out of control and of the therapy she is getting for the guilt she feels about Whye's death.

"He tried to blame me," Davis told the judge in a victim-impact statement. "He wouldn't man-up to the part he played."