Guilty Plea in Deadly Pa. Oil Slick Crash

BLOOMSBURG, Pa. (AP) - July 11, 2006 -- A Bloomsburg man has pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter for failing to report an oil slick he left on Route 42 that led to a fatal motorcycle crash.

The Press Enterprise reports 49-year-old Donald Franklin contested some of the facts presented in court yesterday, but was willing to accept responsibility for his actions.

Columbia County District Attorney Gary Norton says Franklin was "grossly negligent" by failing to clean up or report the oil that spilled from his car's damaged oil pan onto the southbound lane of Route 42 south of Catawissa on June 5th, 2005.

Forty-year-old Carla Bickleman of the Reading area was killed when her husband's motorcycle went out of control after hitting the oil.

Sentencing will take place later. Franklin could receive up to a five-year prison term.

(Copyright 2006 by the Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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