LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Superior Court recently denied an appeal from a Florida woman who was driving under the influence of alcohol during a deadly 2014 crash in East Lampeter Township, the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office said Wednesday.
Patricia Halgash was convicted in 2016 of vehicular homicide, DUI, and other offenses stemming from a March 13, 2014 crash on Old Philadelphia PIke that killed Sharon Mulhatten, 71, and permanently injured her son, Troy Mulhatten. Halgash was sentenced to a prison term of 4 to 14 1/2 years, prosecutors said.
Halgash, in her appeal for relief, argued the jury considered prejudicial evidence about her refusal to a blood test, and that her lawyer was ineffective for not objecting to the verdict slip.
The state appellate court denied both arguments, finding that she did not include her first allegation in her initial appeal to the trial court.
Regarding the verdict slip, the Superior Court agreed with the trial court’s assertion: the order of the charges was initially incorrect, but “the instructions given to the jury were proper.”
At sentencing in 2016, a Lancaster County Judge scolded Halgash, 47, for lying under oath during trial and called her actions after the crash “callous,” according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors presented testimony that Halgash’s concern after the crash was for herself: She went to the Mulhattens’ vehicle, saw the condition of the two occupants, and left them without calling for help. She then lied to police about where she was and what she had to drink. She told police she had one drink during dinner at a friend’s house, according to testimony at her 2016 trial.
Police determined she had six “highly alcoholic” beers among the drinks she had while at two bars for several hours prior to driving.
East Lampeter Township police Sgt. Bryan Kondras filed charges.
