PITTSBURGH Judge rules car crash was involuntary manslaughter

The defendant hid his medical condition to keep his driver's license.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- A man who continued to drive despite his history of blackouts was convicted of two counts of involuntary manslaughter Tuesday for a crash that killed a pregnant woman and her mother in October 2000.
Jack Monroe Smith was also convicted on four counts of recklessly endangering another person in an August 2002 crash that injured four people. He was found innocent of vehicular homicide in the women's deaths.
Smith, 51, of Bethel Park, had agreed to a nonjury trial before Allegheny County Judge Jeffrey Manning, who issued his verdict Tuesday afternoon.
"Each time Jack Smith got behind the wheel of his car to drive, he knew he was a ticking time bomb," Manning said.
Manning found that Smith hid his condition, which began in childhood, from medical professionals and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
Smith "lied and manipulated to keep PennDOT from recalling his license and now tries to justify his conduct by saying that he relied on what his doctors said and that fact that PennDOT authorized him to drive," Manning said.
Smith's license had been recalled by PennDOT in 1986 and April 2002, but was later returned.
Sentencing to come
Smith declined to comment after the verdict. He was allowed to remain free on an electronic monitoring device while he awaits sentencing, scheduled for Sept. 2. Involuntary manslaughter carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and reckless endangerment carries a two-year maximum.
Robert Schick, whose wife, Patricia Schick, and pregnant daughter, Sherri Zeis, were killed in the October 2002 accident, said the verdict was a long time coming, but appropriate. Patricia Schick and Zeis were struck and killed when Smith slammed into their station wagon on a suburban Pittsburgh road Oct. 18, 2000.
Smith "knew he had a problem, OK, and he didn't address his problem," Robert Schick said. "He has to be responsible, and that's what the judge said."