Seeking reduced sentence, Quercetti says she had ineffective counsel

Seeking a reduced sentence in the death of an off-duty state trooper in a drunken-driving crash in 2008, Kristina Quercetti told a hearing Wednesday that she had been "caught off guard" by the length of her term.

The Chester County woman said her attorney at the time suggested her punishment would be in the five-year range, but she was sentenced to 81/2 to 17 years.

Quercetti, 42, of Landenberg, argued that Thomas H. Ramsay did not represent her effectively.

On the night of March 27, 2008, Quercetti's vehicle slammed into a car driven by Kenton Iwaniec. She had been driving in the wrong lane of Route 41 in southern Chester County and her blood-alcohol level was found to be four times the legal definition of drunken driving.

Iwaniec, a rookie trooper, had been headed home from a shift at the Avondale barracks. He died several hours later.

Quercetti pleaded guilty in October 2008 and began serving her term. In her testimony Wednesday, she said she had learned that the sentences of others convicted in similar cases were shorter. She said she had contacted another attorney, Patrick T. Duffy. This year, he filed a petition for an appeal.

One point in the petition raised the ire of Assistant District Attorney Peter Hobart. It alleged that Ramsay had failed to let Quercetti know that Iwaniec had drugs in his system "at the time of the crash and may have, in fact, been responsible for causing the accident in question."

Hobart said it was reckless to demean the trooper's memory without bothering to do any research. The drugs cited had been administered after the accident, he said.

Duffy said in court yesterday that those medical records had not been made available to him.

Judge Ronald C. Nagle ruled earlier that only one point Duffy raised had merit and would be argued in court - the allegation that Ramsay failed to protect his client's post-appeal rights.

On Wednesday, Quercetti testified that after her sentence was handed down, she asked Ramsay about an appeal. She said he told her it would be a "waste of time." She acknowledged that she did not ask or direct him to appeal.

Ramsay, a former prosecutor, testified that he was "shell-shocked" by the long punishment. He recalled telling Quercetti that the judge was not likely to reduce her sentence and said she never directed him to file an appeal.

Duffy argued that Ramsay had dropped the ball. He said Quercetti was not told what her options were and what she needed to do.

"This has always been about the acceptance of responsibility," Hobart said. Quercetti, he said, was responsible for the situation she found herself in and it was her burden to ask for an appeal.

Hobart said he expected Nagle to rule on the appeals petition in a few weeks.