Vasbinder was sentenced to 6 to 10 years in state prison for homicide by vehicle after fatally striking a woman with his truck while under the influence of multiple drugs. At the sentencing, the victim's family members gave emotional statements describing the devastating impact of her death on their lives and community. They took issue with Vasbinder leaving the scene without aid and blamed him fully for the tragedy, seeing it as more than an accident. Vasbinder apologized but the judge found his actions showed a lack of character and care for human life.

1. PAGE A-10 JUNIATA SENTINEL, MIFFLINTOWN, PA WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, 2016
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[Continued from A-1]
couraged the victim’s sis-
ter to try to read her state-
ment again, and the woman
said that on September 10,
2015, the day of the crash,
the victim’s two children
lost their mother due to the
negligent actions of the de-
fendant. She said she was
especially devastated and
angry by Vasbinder’s ac-
tions at the scene after he
realized he’d hit her sister.
“You left the scene. You
didn’t care,” she said.
The victim’s sister de-
tailed the detrimental im-
pact her sister’s loss has
had on her children and the
other members of her fam-
ily, including the fact that
Williams will never see her
daughter, Tiffany, graduate
[Continued from A-1]
tence. He was not found
to be a sexually violent
predator by the Sexual Of-
fenders Board, but will be
required to register as a
Megan’s Law offender for
the duration of his life.
Graham initially stood
trial in April 2013 for sev-
eral counts of aggravated
indecent assault, indecent
assault and corruption of
minors related to an alleged
incident of sexual assault
that occurred in 1996.
However, President
Judge Kathy Morrow de-
clared a mistrial after the
jury listened to testimony
by the alleged victim’s
mother, who testified about
Graham’s reaction when
she confronted him with
her daughter’s allegation.
“He wanted to call them
and apologize to them,”
she said during the trial.
When Juniata County
District Attorney Cory
Snook questioned her ref-
erence to “them” she said,
“My son was involved.”
At that point, Morrow
immediately excused the
jury from the courtroom
and reviewed the transcript
of the testimony. She later
addressed the issue with
Snook and Graham’s attor-
ney, Nevin Zimmerman,
and ultimately decided
that a fair trial for Graham
would be impossible at
that point, and dismissed
the jury.•
local EMS personnel have
reached out to comfort her,
telling her that Williams had
not been in pain. She also
said that she didn’t realize
she knew who the victim
was at the scene because of
her injuries and the fact that
her hair concealed much
of her face, but later real-
ized that she knew who she
was and had just spoken to
the victim’s daughter a few
weeks before the accident.
The woman said Vasbind-
er was not a child and had
been dealing with drug-re-
lated issues for a long peri-
od of time, yet he still chose
to get behind the wheel of a
vehicle that morning.
“He changed the world
for a lot of people,” she
said.
The woman said that she
refused to call Williams’
death an accident, as it was
the equivalent of someone
putting a gun to her head
and shooting her.
“It probably would have
been more merciful that
way,” she said.
Vasbinder also made a
statement prior to his sen-
tencing.
“I cannot take back what
is already done, but I’m sin-
cerely sorry for taking the
life of a daughter, mother
and friend.”
Prior to handing down
the sentence, Morrow said
people continually underes-
timate the impact of drugs
that are rampant in the com-
munity. She noted Vasbind-
er had been using someone
else’s drugs at the time of
the incident, and wondered
if the provider had been
charged as an accessory to
the crime.
“Anything I can do to
you is minimal to what you
have done. Tiffany is still
going through life without
her mother,” she said. “The
fact that you walked away
from that woman when she
was dying speaks volumes
about your character.”
After the sentence was
announced, a Williams fam-
ily member emotionally ex-
pressed her disappointment,
saying the sentence was
not long enough, and was
helped out of the courtroom
while sobbing in distress.
According to police
documents, on Thursday,
September 10, troopers re-
sponded to the scene of an
accident along Route 3002
[William Penn Highway]
in Fermanagh Township.
When they arrived at the
scene, they spotted a gray
1986 Ford Ranger XL
parked there and the victim,
later identified as Williams,
lying on the berm of the
roadway.
Troopers observed that
the truck had damage to its
right headlight, fender and
the right side of the wind-
shield. Police ran a registra-
tion check and determined
that the vehicle belonged
to Vasbinder, and a subse-
quent crash investigation
determined the point of im-
pact occurred over the road-
way’s fog line.
Police interviewed Vas-
binder at the scene, and he
admitted to police that he
had been driving the vehi-
cle at the time of the crash.
Troopers observed that Vas-
binder displayed a “lethar-
gic appearance,” and that
his eyes were glassy and his
pupils constricted, accord-
ing to documents.
Vasbinder allegedly told
policethat,priortothecrash,
he took liquid methadone
and a medication which
had been prescribed to his
live-in friend. He was sent
to Geisinger-Lewistown
Hospital for drug testing,
and lab results revealed that
he had been under the influ-
ence of THC, methadone,
Lorazepam, Alprazolam,
EDDP and Aripiprazole.
According to documents,
on September 12, at 10:10
a.m., Vasbinder was inter-
viewed at the Arch Rock
station. Vasbinder allegedly
told police that on the day
of the crash, he had dropped
his live-in friend, Linda
Snook,offatherboyfriend’s
home in Honey Grove, and
was driving home because
he was hungry and needed
to feed his cats. He initially
told police that it “was rainy
and foggy and he heard a
thud,” documents indicate.
Vasbinder allegedly told
police that he got out of
his truck and realized that
he had hit a person. He
then went back to his truck
and attempted to move it.
When he discovered that it
wouldn’t run, he put it in
neutral and pushed it down
the road away from the vic-
tim’s body. Vasbinder alleg-
edly related that he then got
out of the truck to look at
the victim, and realized that
it was a woman and that she
was still breathing.
Police say he did not at-
tempt to render aid to the
woman, and he did not call
911. According to police,
Vasbinder said that he be-
lieved he had been traveling
at 25 to 30 miles per hour
when his vehicle made con-
tact with the victim. During
the interview, Vasbinder
also allegedly said that he
had taken a non-prescribed
anxiety pill and that he had
from high school.
She finished by telling
Vasbinder she could muster
no forgiveness for him.
“Peggy Williams is in
heaven, and you’ll see hell,”
she said.
Other family members
elected not to speak in
court, but were present for
the sentencing. Williams’
sister was followed by the
first person who came upon
the accident scene, who said
she felt the need to describe
Williams’ last moments to
the court so they could fully
understand the magnitude
of the tragedy.
“I do not consider my-
self a victim, but I was with
her when she died, and no
one should have to die that
way,” she said. She suggest-
ed the court review photos
of the accident scene, which
she compared to pictures of
soldiers injured in battle.
The woman said she was
drivingthroughMifflintown
in her truck that morning
when she saw an object on
the side of the street. As
she drove closer, she real-
ized it was a person lying
facedown on the ground.
The woman immediately
stopped her vehicle to tend
to the victim and realized
she was still breathing. She
told the court that she called
911, but the victim had sus-
tained so much bodily dam-
age from the impact of the
vehicle that she didn’t know
where to begin to help her.
She testified that all she and
fellow bystanders could do
was provide a blanket to
cover the victim from view
of oncoming traffic, as po-
lice and EMS had not yet
arrived on the scene.
“We tried to provide her
with some dignity. She died
right in front of me,” she
said.
According to her state-
ment, Vasbinder walked up
to the victim while she was
still breathing, looked at her,
and walked away. She said
that he later approached the
scene a second time and ad-
mitted to hitting the victim,
but said he didn’t know why
people jogged along that
road, and didn’t know why
the victim chose to wear
dark colors on that foggy
morning.
“He just stood there and
blamed her,” the woman
said “He showed no re-
morse.”
The woman said she gave
her statement to local EMS
and police when they ar-
rived, and when she drove
away, she noticed that Wil-
liams’ blood was on the
mats of her vehicle.
She said that she will be
forever affected by what
she saw, and related that
received two pills from his
live-in friend as compensa-
tion for gas to drive her to
Honey Grove. Vasbinder
allegedly said that he took
one of the pills 40 minutes
prior to the crash.
Vasbinder was housed
in the Mifflin County Cor-
rectional Facility prior to
sentencing and was sub-
sequently transported to a
state correctional facility.•
Graham
Sentenced
VasbinderTo Serve Six toTenYears in State Prison Sentence for Homicide byVehicle Charge