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Family Fights To Reinstate Charges In Hit & Run

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Sep 24, 2008 1:24 pm US/Eastern

Family Fights To Reinstate Charges In Hit & Run

Reporting
Bob Allen
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ― A local family who lost a member in a deadly hit-and-run accident is continuing to look for what it considers justice.

They went to court today to get charges refiled against the man they believe is responsible.

For more than three years, a mother and daughter from Indiana County have been challenging police and the courts, hoping to get justice in the death of a family member.

Heather Kunkle, Sean's sister, and her mother took their battle to the state Superior Court this morning.

In July 2005, Sean Pearce was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver on Route 119 in Blairsville.

The family is hoping a three-judge panel will order a new trial after an Indiana County judge dismissed the charges against the suspect.

"The judge's decision was based on whether or not they could prove that the defendant killed my brother or not," said Kunkle. "And what we're saying is that he left the scene of an accident, which is stated in the law that if you leave the accident, the hit-and-run, you are to stop and render aid and call the police and he did not do that."

The state Superior Court is expected to issue a ruling in about three months.

In the meantime, the family is trying to change a state law to make it a mandatory five-year in prison for anyone who leaves the scene of a hit-and-run accident.


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