From staff reports
A Franklin man was sentenced this week to five to 10 years in state prison on homicide by vehicle while DUI and other charges in connection with a June 2016 crash that killed a Franklin woman.
Judge Robert L. Boyer handed down the sentence against Raymond Norman Herold, 35.
Herold was found guilty in October by a Venango County jury of seven charges stemming from the June 5, 2016, crash on Sugarcreek Drive in Sugarcreek Borough that killed Christina Hoover, 34, of Franklin.
Herold was given credit in his sentencing for 15 days he had already served.
Herold and Hoover had left the Office bar in Franklin together on the night of the crash.
Franklin state police said Herold had undercompensated for a right curve, and the vehicle left the roadway and struck a utility pole before flipping over onto its roof.
Hoover was partially ejected through the vehicle’s sun roof and sustained major injuries that resulted in her death at the scene, said police.
Herold was flown to UPMC Presbyterian in Pittsburgh for treatment of injuries sustained in the crash.
Herold had told police the roads had been wet from rain, and he could only recall waking up after the crash. He said he tried to lift the vehicle off of Hoover.
Hoover had said she was able to drive, Herold said, and the two left Franklin headed toward Sugarcreek Borough on Route 322.
Blood test results for Herold indicated a blood alcohol content level of .097 percent.
Several witnesses who had been at the bar the night of the accident related either seeing Herold get into the driver’s side of the vehicle, or Hoover saying that she wasn’t driving, police said.
A witness who had been at the scene of the crash said he heard Herold state that he had killed someone, police said.
