Anthony Torsell, the 21-year-old former Penn. State student who struck and killed West Chester University graduate Richard Smith on Oct. 28, 2006, was convicted last Wednesday of vehicular homicide.Torsell now faces up to 10 years in jail but remains out on bail until he is sentenced on Nov. 13.
Torsell’s blood alcohol level at the time of his arrest was .242 percent, more than triple the legal limit. The crash resulted in the death of Smith and the hospitalization of Aaron Stidd, a Penn. State University student.
Centre County Assistant District Attorney Steve Sloane will seek a six- to 10-year sentence, although Torsell’s defense attorney, Joseph Amendola, plans to seek a lesser sentence of three to six years because Torsell has no prior criminal record.
Smith, who graduated from WCU in just three years while concurrently holding a full-time job, hoped to get a job as a computer systems analyst and had recently purchased a house in Conshohocken. Prior to that, he lived with his father in Chadds Ford, about six miles from campus.
Information for this article was gathered in part from The Daily Collegian of Pennsylvania State University.
Jeff J. Simon is a third-year student majoring in Communication Studies with a minor in Journalism. He can be reached at QuadEIC@wcupa.edu.