west chester >> A Coatesville woman who struck and killed a city teenager who was walking along a busy highway in Caln was led away to jail Friday after pleading guilty to homicide and drunk driving charges.
Gina Bennett, 49, was sentenced to two to four years in state prison, plus an additional three years probation, for the December 2014 death of 19-year-old Ke’asya Grey, a woman described by family and friends as “beautiful, smart, kind and silly.”
Bennett hit Gray with her SUV after a night of heavy drinking at two Caln bars. She failed to stop after striking Gray, and later took her vehicle to a body shop to get the damage the crash had caused repaired. She pleaded guilty to separate charges of homicide by vehicle and DUI.
In a tearful address to the dozens of Gray’s family and friends who packed Courtroom Two in the Chester County Justice Center, as well as members of her own family, Bennett attempted to apologize for her actions that night.
“No one understands the sleepless nights I have had,” Bennett said, standing with the aid of a walker because of a broken ankle. “If I truly would have known what happened, I would have stopped.
“I want to offer my sincere apologies for the tragic event that took place that night,” Bennett said. “Two families lives have forever been changed.”
According to the facts laid out by Deputy District Attorney Thomas Ost-Prisco, Caln police investigators were able to locate video surveillance and witness statements from two bars that Bennett patronized the night of Dec. 4, 2014. She was seen leaving one of the bars, the Downingtown VFW, walking unsteadily, clearly intoxicated. A male friend drove her to another bar, Crossroads, where she had more to drink, and then dropped her off at her Honda SUV in the VFW parking lot around 10:55 p.m.
She got behind the wheel, drove away, and within a mile struck Gray in the 3400 block of Lincoln Highway. Gray died later at Brandywine Hospital of her injuries.
In lengthy, emotional statements to Judge Patrick Carmody during the proceeding, members of Gray’s family and some friends described the pain they felt in losing her, and their anger at Bennett for her actions – both driving while drunk and failing to stop after the crash.
Gray’s aunt, Antoinette Rasion, recalled seeing her niece at home the night of her death, helping to put up Christmas decorations. “They never finished getting up that year,” she said.
Gray’s death, “has brought so much hardship, so much sickness and pain in our family,” Raison told the judge. She was the life of our party. Since her death things have just not seemed the same. I can see the hurt in their eyes.”
Raison also spoke of forgiveness for Bennett, whose family she said she has known. “This has been traumatic for both families,” she said. “It has hurt all the citizens of Coatesville. We will never be able to enjoy her smile again. We can just hold her in our heats.”
One of her cousins, Stephanie Raison, said the crash was “a tragedy, not a mistake. She did not deserve to go out like that.”
Others who spoke were not as forgiving as Raison, calling Bennett’s actions the night of the crash in leaving the scene disgusting and cowardly. Gray’s mother, Stephanie, urged Carmody to give Bennett “the maximum penalty,” although Carmody said he was bound to either accept the plea agreement or reject it, and not set his own sentence.’
“This is an emotional case, and I ask everyone to keep their calm,” Carmody said.
Ost-Prisco said that the prosecution had offered the plea agreement to Bennett instead of demanding a mandatory three-year minimum sentence for homicide by vehicle while DUI or leaving the scene of an accident involving death after long discussions with the Gray family and their attorney.
He said there were “concerns” about the case that would have made it difficult to provide that Bennett’s intoxication that night, a .159 blood alcohol level, directly contributed to the crash and Gray’s death.
Bennett’s attorney, Evan Kelly of West Chester, assured Carmody that his client knew what she was doing by pleading guilty, and tried to address those concerns expressed by the family that neither she nor her own family had tried to express grief over Gray’s death in the months since the crash.
“That’s on me,” he said.Carmody told those in the courtroom that he was accepting the plea, but that he had a “hammer” holding over Bennett’s case should she ever re-offend.
Holding a photo of Gray that many of those in the courtroom brought to the sentencing, Carmody told Bennett to “remember this face for the rest of your life. If you hadn’t been a drunk driver that night, then there would not be a courtroom full of people with a hole in their hearts.”
To contact staff writer Michael P. Rellahan call 610-696-1544
