WILKES-BARRE — A Shavertown man pleaded guilty Tuesday to homicide by vehicle charges stemming from a crash last year that killed his 27-year-old passenger.
William Bates Akin, 30, of Hillside Road, pleaded guilty to homicide by vehicle while under the influence and DUI at a hearing in Luzerne County Court. Judge David W. Lupas accepted Akin’s plea.
Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 3. Prosecutors say Akin faces a minimum of 18 months in prison.
Akin was charged in the September 19, 2015, crash that killed Jared Scott Curran. Curran’s father, who lives in Texas, was not present at the hearing but indicated he was satisfied with the plea, prosecutors said.
An officer with the Jackson Township Police Department responding to the wreck found Akin’s vehicle in a field off Chase Road. According to the affidavit, Akin was leaning into the driver’s side door of his vehicle and holding Curran’s head.
Akin explained he and Curran had been drinking at a strip club in Nanticoke prior to the crash, the affidavit states. Akin, who the affidavit notes appeared “unsteady,” told investigators he only had two beers, but later said he had four. Several empty containers of beer and a bottle of Dextroamphetamine were later discovered inside the vehicle.
Akin said he was driving about 40 miles per hour and “misjudged the curve in the road,” according to the affidavit.
A member of the state police collision analysis and reconstruction unit determined Akin was traveling eastbound on Chase Road when he veered off the road and into a telephone pole, causing the vehicle to careen downhill into a field where it struck several trees before coming to a stop.
Curran was pronounced dead at the scene. He was not wearing a seat belt, the affidavit states.
Akin, meanwhile, failed field sobriety tests and was taken to Wilkes-Barre General Hospital for a blood sample which later revealed a blood-alcohol content of .221 percent, more than twice the legal limit in Pennsylvania.
Akin was allowed to remain free on bail until sentencing.
