West Deer man gets 5 years in prison for crash that killed girlfriend

A West Deer man who drove under the influence of marijuana and killed his girlfriend in a Hampton crash will spend more than five years in state prison after he was sentenced Tuesday.

Carl Keating, 34, pleaded guilty in May before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Beth A. Lazzara to homicide by vehicle and related counts stemming from the Dec. 11, 2019, crash that killed Rebecca Koorsen, 28, of Glenshaw.

Keating was driving a 1992 Honda Civic on Route 8 in Hampton about 3:45 p.m. when he lost control, crossed the center line and struck an oncoming car and pickup.

Police said he was speeding and under the influence of marijuana at the time.

At sentencing, Keating told the court he and Koorsen lived together and he helped care for her three children, including playing ball and painting her daughter’s nails.

“I accept full responsibility for my actions,” Keating told the judge. “It haunts me every day. When I close my eyes at night, it’s all I see.”

Keating said he plays the wreck back and forth in his mind — the crashing of cars and him pulling Koorsen out of the wreckage and looking at her face.

“I kept saying, ‘Come on, you can get through this. You are such a strong woman. You are a fighter,’” he said.

He told the court: “I pray that I see her face in my dreams and know that she knows it was an accident.”

Since the crash, defense attorney Andy Howard said his client has struggled with guilt and grief and post-traumatic stress disorder. Although Keating had been out on bond when he pleaded guilty, Lazzara ordered him to jail after learning he had been charged by state police with another marijuana-related DUI a month earlier.

Howard told Lazzara his client has a prescription for medical marijuana and needed mental health treatment. Howard said Keating has a lengthy mental health history.

At sentencing, Howard argued the treatment would be better for him at Allegheny County Jail than in state prison.

Koorsen’s father urged Lazzara to punish Keating.

“He should not be allowed to drive if he has no regard for laws, has no regard for others on the road and ended my daughter’s life because he wanted to race another vehicle,” Mark Koorsen said in a letter submitted to the court. “My life is now changed forever, and now it’s time to change his life forever.”

He described his daughter as a beautiful person and loving mother.

“I loved her with all my heart,” he wrote.

Because of Keating’s actions, Mark Koorsen said his grandchildren are living in separate homes, “being pulled apart because of his careless choice and disregard for her safety.

“A (selfish) and impulsive decision that has broken my heart so badly, and that I can’t get out of my head: Why my daughter?”

Lazzara ordered Keating, who previously had completed mental health court before her, to serve at least five years, nine months in prison, up to 11-1/2 years.

In addition, he must serve five years probation.