Vehicular homicide sentence shortened

SPECIAL TO THE VINDICATOR

MERCER, Pa. — A man’s minimum sentence for a 2003 vehicular homicide that killed a New Castle couple was reduced by one year recently in Mercer County Common Pleas Court.

Joseph Stemple Jr., 44, formerly of Bethlehem, crashed head-on into the car of Donald Romanio Sr. and Norma Romanio in November 2003 while driving drunk and going the wrong way on Pa. Route 60.

A judge sentenced Stemple on June 4 to eight to 20 years in prison and ordered him to pay $18,358 restitution to the couple’s son.

Stemple also forfeited his driver’s license for 20 years, and he’s forbidden to apply for a new driver’s license in any state upon his release from prison.

In 2004, he had been sentenced to nine to 20 years in prison. The change came about because the state Superior Court overturned the original sentence, stating it had been imposed incorrectly because Judge Francis Fornelli sentenced Stemple for two counts of homicide by vehicle after Stemple’s plea bargain had eliminated one of the counts.

Stemple’s attorney, Ernie Preate Jr., and prosecutors agreed the statute was poorly written. As a result, Stemple pleaded guilty again in April to two separate counts of homicide by vehicle while driving drunk. The new sentence breaks down to five to 10 years on the first count and three to 10 years on the second, with the sentences to be served consecutively.