A commercial trucker convicted of homicide by vehicle for falling asleep at the wheel on Interstate 78 could soon be headed to state prison after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court refused to hear his appeal.
Though Richard D. Pedota had argued the wreck was an accident, and not a crime, now that his direct legal challenges are exhausted, he is expected to be ordered to begin serving his two-to-four-year sentence, Northampton County Assistant District Attorney Richard Pepper said Wednesday.
Pedota's case was one that prosecutors say answered a previously unsettled question of Pennsylvania law: whether merely falling asleep while driving a tractor-trailer rises to the level of "gross negligence" needed for a defendant to be found guilty.
On Sept. 2, 2010, Pedota's 18-wheeler drifted onto the shoulder of eastbound I-78 in Lower Saucon Township, where it hit and killed Mario Chacon, 52, of Palmer Township, a fellow trucker who had stopped on the side of the road, police said.
Pedota, 50, of Woodside, N.Y., was convicted by Judge Leonard Zito in 2011 of homicide by vehicle and involuntary manslaughter, but allowed to remain free on bail given the unresolved law. Zito reached his verdict after a nonjury trial in which prosecutors and Pedota's defense agreed to the facts and asked the judge to decide whether it all added up to a crime or an accident.
Pedota told investigators he had left the YRC Trucking service center in Harrisburg and was heading to New Jersey in the right lane when he "fell asleep or blacked out" and awoke when he heard a crash. Pedota was driving in a legal manner beforehand and was not speeding, under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or on the road an excessive period of time, both sides agreed.
Pepper argued -- and Zito accepted -- that the commercial driver of a tractor-trailer should know the warning signs of sleep. Defense lawyers Steven Goudsouzian and Brian Lawser countered that Pedota could have "blacked out," which is immediate.
In February, Pedota's conviction was affirmed by the Superior Court, and his bid for re-argument was later rejected. On Aug. 29, the state Supreme Court denied Pedota's request that it hear his appeal.
Pedota remains free. Pepper said he expects Zito will soon schedule a hearing on the case, or issue an order requiring Pedota to report to prison.
Goudsouzian did not return a phone call Wednesday.
