He pleaded guilty last month to three counts of involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment in the August 30, 2014, crash.
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In handing down the sentence, Judge Raymond Hamill repeatedly told Ware he was “a failure as a father” and that the crash had been “preventable, irresponsible, reckless, stupid, selfish” and, finally, “criminal”.
It was not the first time he had let her drive, prosecutors said.
The three boys who died were classmates Cullen Keffer and Shamus Digney, both 15 and from Holland, Pennsylvania, and Ryan Lesher, also 15, of Churchville, Pennsylvania.
The charges have a maximum prison sentence of 21 years.
Mr. Ware’s attorney, Robert Reno, said the judge misread the intention of the letter and then inferred from it that his client lacked remorse, a claim the defense says is untrue.
The sentencing is Thursday for the father of an unlicensed teen who was driving during a crash that killed three Council Rock South, officials said in a press release. “May those boys rest in peace”.
Julia Ware, four Bucks County teens and a 15-year-old girl went to breakfast that morning at a nearby barbecue restaurant and, on the return trip, Julia was speeding, failed to negotiate a turn, lost control of the vehicle and flipped it in Paupack Township, near the Lake Wallenpaupack resort community where they were staying for the Labor Day weekend, according to court documents.
The defendant, his eyes wet, turned his face slightly toward each and nodded softly while they spoke.
It wasn’t until two months later that one of the passengers came forward and told police that Ware had given his daughter the keys.
“I will never be able to feel the loss the families will forever feel”, Ware said.
“I’m satisfied the judge went over and above the recommended sentence”, he said.
In a prepared statement, Wayne County District Attorney Janine Edwards said the case was particularly troubling because a young person and the parent ignored the law.
Ware has also been ordered to pay $73-thousand in restitution.
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Ware’s daughter, a 16-year-old Pleasantville resident, was sentenced in May to probation and community service.
