WILKES-BARRE — A man from Luzerne County admitted to a judge Friday morning that he is responsible for hitting and killing two people riding on a motorcycle last September.
The guilty plea comes just two weeks before the man was scheduled to go to trial.
Walter Raven of Jenkins Township pleaded guilty to four of the most serious charges against him as part of a plea deal to avoid a trial.
Raven was soft spoken in the courtroom as he told a judge he is guilty of the felony charges against him.
Those felony charges include accidents involving death and not being properly licensed at the time of the fatal wreck.
Raven told Newswatch 16 he's sorry for leaving the scene of the deadly crash as he was being taken back to jail after the hearing.
Investigators say last September, Raven was behind the wheel of a car that hit a motorcycle on Route 315 in Pittston Township.
Police say, Robin Walsh and Donnie Pizano were riding on the motorcycle that Raven hit.
They both died. More than a dozen family members of the two victims from Plains Township were in court for Friday morning's guilty plea.
Raven is scheduled to be sentenced in June and could get at least two years.
The judge said on top of state prison time, he'll likely order Raven to pay $10,000 in restitution to cover the funeral expenses for the crash victims.
Prosecutors say Raven's guilty plea does not impact the evidence tampering case against his friend Daniel Antonini, who police say helped Raven power-wash the blood off of his car before it was located by detectives.