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Driver Sentenced to Prison for DUI Crash that Killed 90-Year-Old Woman

TUNKHANNOCK — A man who admitted killing a woman while driving drunk was sentenced Wednesday morning in Wyoming County. John Hanyen was sentenced to 62 to...

TUNKHANNOCK -- A man who admitted killing a woman while driving drunk was sentenced Wednesday morning in Wyoming County.

John Hanyen was sentenced to 62 to 122 months in state prison.

He pleaded guilty in November to Homicide while DUI in the death of Maxine Stroka.

Investigators say Hanyen struck and killed Stroka in September of 2017 outside her home near Tunkhannock, while the 90 year old was putting out her trash. He then left the scene. Police found his vehicle three hours later outside Tunkhannock.

Hanyen said nothing as he walked into the Wyoming County Courthouse in Tunkhannock.

Hanyen was sentenced to up 10 years in prison for a hit-and-run crash that left an elderly woman dead and a family in mourning.

Back in September, Hanyen struck Maxine Stroka outside of her home on West Tioga Street in Tunkhannock.

The Bradford County man got out of his car but then took off. He was later identified by a witness who took down his license plate number.

Hanyen was convicted of homicide and DUI charges.

Maxine Storka was just taking out the trash when she was struck and killed by Hanyen.

In court, her daughter said she did not deserve to die. Her daughter Holly Acquino gave emotional testimony about her mother's life.

The night of her death, Maxine was returning from fellowship at a nearby church.

Acquino told Hanyen that he, "drove away and left her to die," and although she forgave him, Holly told the judge Hanyen deserved the "maximum punishment."

"It was heart-wrenching to see what she had to go through, her family had to go through. The fact that he didn't stop or aid her I think caused that family a lot of pain," said Wyoming County District Attorney Jeff Mitchell.

The D.A. said the court did all it could to keep Hanyen behind bars as long as possible.

"When you have a death resulting from a DUI, there is a mandatory minimum of three years and the court went beyond that and that's the highest a court could've given him," Mitchell said.

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