Pa. court upholds Helsel’s sentence

Ruling: Actions were part of ‘ongoing fatal accident’

A Pennsylvania appeals court has upheld a four- to eight-year prison sentence imposed on a Duncansville teenager who was the involved in a 2017 traffic accident that killed Hollidaysburg Area High School senior and softball star Mikayla D. Focht.

The 18-year-old accident victim, who was planning on playing Division I softball, was riding on the rear of an ATV driven by Trenton Ross Bilak of Everett that had just left a cabin party in a wooded area of Greenfield Township, Blair County.

The ATV struck two deer on Knob Road, and both Bilak and Focht catapulted from the vehicle.

Focht died, but, as Bilak stood by her body, a Jeep driven by Jacob R. Helsel, then 18, emerged from the woods and ran over Focht as she lay on the road. The Jeep then veered into a nearby utility pole.

Blair County Judge Timothy M. Sullivan sentenced Bilak to a State Correctional Institution for 8.5 to 17 years, while Helsel was sentenced to four to eight years, plus two years' probation.

Although he pled guilty to charges of accidents involving death or personal injury, simple assault and tampering with physical evidence, Helsel appealed to the Pennsylvania Superior Court contending through his Altoona attorney Daniel Kiss that his sentence was illegal.

The defense argued that Helsel should be allowed to withdraw his guilty plea, or be resentenced, because the sentence included an illegal mandatory three years behind bars, and, it was further argued, his trial attorney was ineffective.

A three-judge Superior Court panel that included Alice B. Dubow, who wrote the opinion, Anne E. Lazarus and John L. Musmanno, on Monday dismissed Helsel's appeal.

The ineffectiveness charge was rejected because it was not included in an appeal statement presented to the Superior Court.

The pre-hearing statement "failed to include any challenge to the effectiveness of the plea counsel's assistance. Accordingly, (Helsel) has waived his ineffective assistance of counsel claim for appellate review," the Superior Court ruled.

It also stated that a 2013 U.S. Supreme Court decision that declared many "sentence enhancements" under Pennsylvania law illegal did not apply to the Helsel sentence.

Another issued raised by the defense was that the sentence was illegal because the victim was deceased prior to Helsel's Jeep running over her.

The defense contended before the Superior Court that "uncontroverted evidence demonstrated that the victim had died before (Helsel's) vehicle ran her over. It was not his vehicle that was involved in an accident resulting in death."

The Dubow opinion reasoned that when Helsel entered his pleas, he admitted he was the driver of a vehicle "involved" in an accident resulting in death.

Blair County Judge Sullivan, in denying Helsel's appeal 11 months ago, addressed this question in detail, citing a Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision noting a fatal accident does not conclude at the moment the victim expires.

"The terminus of an accident is the completion of all the physical on-scene events with a direct nexus to the onset of the accident, a particularly apropos where more than one vehicle is involved," Sullivan stated in his opinion.

Helsel's actions were part of a "single ongoing fatal accident," he ruled.

The appeals court in its ruling concluded that Sullivan did not abuse his discretion in denying Helsel's post conviction petition.

Helsel, now 21, is serving his time at the State Correctional Institution at Pine Grove, while Bilak, 26, is incarcerated at SCI-Rockview.