NORRISTOWN – A Berks County man serving up to 12 years in prison in connection with a fatal drunken driving crash in Upper Hanover has admitted to a separate charge that he drove drunk in East Greenville just 26 days before the fatal crash.
Francis David Lynch, 43, formerly of the first block of Mountain Scene Drive, Hereford, pleaded guilty in Montgomery County Court to a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol in connection with a 10:05 p.m. March 9, 2012, incident along Third Street in East Greenville. Judge Cheryl L. Austin, who accepted a plea agreement in the case, sentenced Lynch to 72 hours to six months in jail, a mandatory jail term under state law.
That sentence will run concurrently with the six-to-12-year state prison sentence Judge Carolyn T. Carluccio imposed against Lynch in January in connection with the 11 p.m. April 4, 2012, two-vehicle crash in the 3000 block of Kutztown Road in Upper Hanover that claimed the life of motorcyclist Barry D. Good, of Alburtis, Lehigh County. Lynch was convicted by a jury after a four-day trial in October of charges of homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence of alcohol, homicide by vehicle, and DUI in connection with the fatal crash.
During the March 9 incident, Lynch told an Upper Perkiomen police officer who stopped him for suspicion of DUI after his vehicle nearly struck a sidewalk on Third Street in East Greenville that ‘he had two mixed drinks’ at an East Greenville bar, according to a criminal complaint. Authorities alleged Lynch’s blood-alcohol content during the March 9 DUI traffic stop was 0.17 percent, which is above the legal blood-alcohol content of 0.08 percent for driving in Pennsylvania.
Not one month later, April 4, Lynch was behind the wheel of his Ford F-250 pickup truck on Kutztown Road in Upper Hanover while under the influence of alcohol, according to testimony at his trial. Lynch made an abrupt left turn, without signaling, directly in the path of a motorcycle operated by Good, who suffered fatal injuries. Witnesses described Lynch’s driving before the crash as erratic, ‘with repeated braking and accelerating and swerving,’ according to authorities.
During Lynch’s trial, testimony revealed Lynch and his friends used a so-called ‘quarter game’ to monitor the number of beers and shots he consumed in the hours before he drove drunk and killed Good, a 57-year-old father of nine who was on his way to work at Merck, working a night shift so he could be at home during the day to help care for two children who have special needs.
Under the rules of the quarter game Lynch wasn’t supposed to be served more than one shot of alcohol with his beer within an hour, according to testimony.
Bartenders at Lynch’s favorite nightspots or his friends would flip the coin and if it came up ‘heads’ Lynch could have a shot, according to testimony. However, according to testimony, Lynch’s friends would rig the game so that the coin would reveal ‘tails’ if Lynch tried to get more than one shot within an hour.
Prosecutors relied on testimony about the quarter game to imply others were concerned that Lynch was intoxicated and risked being cited for drunken driving the night of April 4.
During the trial, Assistant District Attorney Lauren McNulty alleged Lynch’s blood-alcohol content was 0.136 percent at the time of the crash, which is above the legal blood-alcohol content of 0.08 percent.
In court papers, prosecutors alleged Lynch ‘had at least nine drinks that day – his last drink having been approximately one half-hour before the crash.’
Testimony revealed Lynch, who worked as a foreman for a construction business, had a prior DUI conviction in 2001 and was awaiting court action for the March 9 DUI arrest at the time of the fatal crash.
Follow Carl Hessler Jr. on Twitter @MontcoCourtNews
