MERCER, Pa. - A Mercer County man is scheduled for sentencing today in connection with a crash last year that resulted in two deaths.

Damion Gearhart, 26, of Transfer, is to appear before Mercer County Common Pleas Court Judge Tedd Nesbit for sentencing on charges that include homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence. On June 4, Gearhart agreed to what is known as an Alford plea to those charges, as well as homicide by vehicle and DUI.

An Alford plea is a type of guilty plea in which a defendant does not admit to committing the crime but acknowledges that the prosecution has enough evidence to likely obtain a conviction at trial. The plea is named after the 1970 U.S. Supreme Court case, North Carolina v. Alford, where the court ruled that a defendant can plead guilty while

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