State College Man Sentenced to Jail for Fatal Penns Valley Crash

A State College man will serve time in jail after pleading guilty to a felony charge in connection with a fatal 2020 crash in Penns Valley.

Centre County Judge Brian Marshall on Tuesday sentenced Christopher Hort, 54, to a minimum of 363 days and a maximum of three years for an accident involving death or personal injury, Deputy District Attorney Sean McGraw said. Hort pleaded guilty to the charge in March.

McGraw described Hort’s sentence as “at the high end” of sentencing guidelines for the third-degree felony. The maximum under the guidelines would have been four years.

According to an affidavit of probable cause filed by state police at Rockview, 23-year-old John David King, an Amish resident of Penn Township, was wearing reflective clothing and operating a non-motorized scooter as he returned home from getting groceries when he was struck by a 2012 Honda Pilot the night of April 17, 2020 along Route 45 near Paradise Road.

King was pronounced dead at the scene and the Centre County Coroner’s Office ruled his cause of death as blunt force trauma to the head.

Attorney Anthony DeBoef contacted Centre County District Attorney Bernie Cantorna on April 21 and said that his client, Hort, was involved in a crash on Route 45 around the same night as King’s death but believed he hit a deer.

Hort told police during an interview that he believed he had side-swiped a deer with his Honda Pilot on his way home from fishing at Elk Creek and Pine Creek but did not stop because he feared one of his tires might deflate, according to the affidavit.

Police found his Honda Pilot had heavy impact damage to its front end that investigators said was consistent with King’s injuries.

Hort was charged in September 2020 after a monthslong investigation