NORRISTOWN — As grieving relatives of a pregnant Lansdale woman who was killed in a two-vehicle crash looked on in court, the driver of an 18,000 pound dump truck who caused the crash learned he will spend up to five decades in prison.
Everett James Clayton, 57, of Charleston, W. Va., was sentenced in Montgomery County Court on Friday to 25 to 50 years in a state correctional facility in connection with the 2:59 p.m. Aug. 25, 2022, head-on crash along Park Avenue in Lower Providence that killed 31-year-old Kellie Adams, of Lansdale, who was eight months pregnant, and her baby Emersyn Grace Adams, who was stillborn.
“We’re dealing with a horrible crime that did not have to happen. It’s a tragedy that should not have happened. Clearly, the impact of this crime is enormous,” Judge William R. Carpenter said as he imposed the sentence, adding a message has to be sent to society that “this type of malicious conduct will not be tolerated.”
The sentence included consecutive prison terms of 12½ to 25 years to represent each of the victims.
During a trial late last year, a jury convicted Clayton of third-degree murder and third-degree murder of an unborn child, determining Clayton showed an extreme indifference to the value of human life while driving unlicensed, speeding and having alcohol in his system.
Adams’ husband, Jason, her parents, Dean and Cindy Miller, and sisters, Stephanie and Jaclyn Miller, and dozens of Kellie Adams’ friends wept openly throughout the sentencing hearing and as they testified about deep wounds that scar but never heal.
“You took the life of my best friend, my rock and my world,” a heartbroken Jason Adams addressed Clayton directly.
A firefighter who had responded to the scene of the crash and observed its aftermath, Jason Adams recounted how he was thrust into a role he never anticipated, that of a single parent raising two little boys, ages 5 and 2 at the time, who continue “searching for mommy” or talk to her through prayers. Jason Adams also recalled meeting his daughter Emersyn for the first time by holding her lifeless body.
“The weight of this tragedy is unbearable,” Dean Miller choked back tears as he addressed the packed courtroom, adding he has been robbed of the warmth of his daughter’s smile and “the beauty of her laughter.” “Kellie’s selflessness was boundless. She touched countless lives. The depth of our grief will have no end, it’s a black hole.”
Kellie Adams was a 2009 graduate of North Penn High School and was a middle and high school teacher at Cottage Seven Academy in Phoenixville.
Cindy Miller testified she spoke with Kellie just fifteen minutes before the crash, not knowing those would be their last words, and she recalled the screams she let out when her husband informed about the deaths of her daughter and granddaughter, leaving a wound in her heart that has not healed.
Clayton cupped his head in his hands and appeared to wipe tears from his eyes at times as Adams’ family and friends confronted him with their grief and asked the judge to impose a significant sentence against him.
“I regret, I hate what happened. I caused so much grief to this family,” Clayton said before the judge imposed the punishment. “I am sorry and I wish I could turn back the hands of time. To me, living with the guilt for the rest of my life is worse than a death sentence.”
First Assistant District Attorney Edward F. McCann Jr. and co-prosecutor Gabrielle Hughes sought a lengthy prison term against Clayton. McCann, who argued during the trial that Clayton was unlicensed, speeding, driving recklessly and with alcohol in his system, said what happened that day was inevitable.
“Based on the way he drove throughout Montgomery County that day someone was going to be killed or someone was going to be injured,” McCann said.
McCann acknowledged the far-reaching impact of Adams’ death, pointing out she was an emotional support teacher for many students.
“What a commitment to service. How many children are going to suffer because Kellie Adams is not going to impact their lives?” said McCann, asking the judge to consider the community impact of the crime when fashioning Clayton’s punishment.
Defense lawyer James P. Lyons sought a sentence in the standard range of state sentencing guidelines for Clayton, arguing the crime was not intentional and that Clayton cooperated with authorities during their investigation of the owner of the truck, Patrick Hadley Doran, 24, of Gaithersburg, Md., who also was charged in connection with the crash.
“His cooperation must be considered here,” said Lyons, who represented Clayton at trial with defense lawyer Benjamin Cooper. “What he did was extremely reckless, a grossly negligent series of acts. But it wasn’t intentional.”
Doran, who also goes by the name Jacob Fury, was sentenced last year to 3½ to 7 years in prison on the felony charge of homicide by vehicle, to which he pleaded guilty.
Doran admitted that he allowed the truck that he owned for his paving business to be operated on the roadway in violation of numerous requirements of the Pennsylvania Motor Vehicle Code. Prosecutors alleged the truck was not properly registered or titled, inspected or insured and should have never been on the roadway.
The crash involved a 2003 Ford F650 XLT Super Duty dump truck operated by Clayton and a 2021 Chevrolet Tahoe operated by Kellie Adams. Clayton was traveling southbound in the 500 block of South Park Avenue and Adams was traveling northbound at the time of the crash.
The two-lane roadway includes a double yellow line in the center dividing the northbound and southbound lanes and also includes a grooved pavement that alerts drivers if they begin to move from the lane, according to testimony.
The roadway has a posted 40 mph speed limit and vehicles approaching a curve in the southbound direction pass a posted traffic control warning indicator advising of the curve with a recommended speed of 25 mph.
Testimony revealed Clayton was traveling about 58 mph shortly before entering the curve in the roadway, about 650 feet before the impact between the two vehicles.
During the investigation, detectives recovered cellphone video depicting Clayton’s driving habits for more than 25 minutes leading up to the fatal crash. Clayton, according to testimony, had been recording video on his cellphone, which was located on his vehicle’s dashboard, facing out the front windshield, as he traveled 13 miles through four jurisdictions including Upper Gwynedd, North Wales, Worcester and Lower Providence.
Prosecutors argued the video footage showed Clayton excessively speeding, tailgating other vehicles and continuously operating his vehicle in a reckless manner, including a near-miss incident with two other vehicles several miles before the fatal crash.
Clayton did not testify during the trial.
During an interview by police, Clayton advised that he had consumed an alcoholic beverage at lunch and an additional alcoholic beverage about 30 minutes before the crash and maintained he was not under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash. Officers at the scene, observed Clayton holding a plastic bag containing additional containers of beer, according to the criminal complaint filed by Lower Providence Police Sergeant Ryan Singleton.
Investigators said tests later determined Clayton had a blood-alcohol level of 0.076 percent, which is just below 0.08 percent, the legal limit for driving. Clayton was not charged with DUI.
But McCann and Hughes argued any level of alcohol can effect a driver’s perception and reaction.
Authorities also alleged that being in possession of and under the influence of any detectable amount of intoxicating beverage “would have placed him out of service,” under federal motor carrier regulations.
Clayton, according to court papers, told investigators he was working for a paving and asphalt company, that he was the foreman and that it was his job to drive the truck to a job site.
“Clayton stated he was not familiar with the road he was driving on when the crash occurred but stated it had a lot of curves,” Singleton alleged.
After a post-crash inspection of the truck, investigators concluded there were no mechanical problems or failures that could have contributed to the crash.
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