Burlington County Prosecutor LaChia L. Bradshaw announced that a 45-year-old Marlton man has been sentenced to 12 years in state prison for driving under the influence of alcohol and causing the death of a Mount Laurel man during a high-speed collision on Hainesport Road last summer in Mount Laurel.
The Hon. Terrence R. Cook, P.J.Cr., handed down the sentence yesterday in Superior Court in Mount Holly to Desmond Newberry. Under an agreement with the Prosecutor’s Office, Newberry pled guilty earlier this year to Aggravated Manslaughter (First Degree). He must serve 85 percent of the sentence before becoming eligible for parole. Upon being released from incarceration, Newberry’s driver’s license will be suspended for a 10-year period.
The investigation began on September 3, 2022, when officers from the Mount Laurel Police Department were dispatched to Hainesport Road in the area of the Cucina Carini restaurant for a report of a motor vehicle collision just after 8 p.m.
The investigation determined that Glenn Keen, the owner of the restaurant, was pulling out of the parking lot when he was struck by a vehicle traveling westbound being driven by the defendant. Keen, who was pulled from his burning vehicle by civilians prior to the arrival of police, was airlifted to Temple University Hospital, where he later died.
Newberry was extricated from his vehicle by the Mount Laurel Fire Department and transported to Cooper University Hospital in Camden with minor injuries.
The event data recorder from Newberry’s BMW revealed he was traveling at 126 miles per hour just prior to striking Keen’s Ford SUV. Newberry did not dispute that his blood alcohol concentration was . 256 immediately following the collision – more than three times the threshold to determine drunk driving in New Jersey. He had been charged and pled guilty to drunk driving on two previous occasions.
Newberry was prosecuted by Assistant Prosecutor Joshua Dennis, supervisor of the BCPO Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Unit. The investigation was conducted by the Mount Laurel Police Department Traffic Unit, with assistance from the New Jersey State Police. The lead investigator was MLPD Sergeant Nicholas DiGirolamo, who was joined on the case by Officer Jeffrey Herrmann.