Pinned to their clothes were their son's name badges from his state police uniform, as well as a police mourning badge and their son's own mourning pin, which he would have worn on his uniform to a police funeral. Many of the 30 or so other family members, friends and state police colleagues who joined them in attending the plea hearing also wore similar pins.
But as dignified and personal a tribute the decorations were to their dead son,
24-year-old Kenton Iwaniec, the couple said their pain has not eased since Kristina M. Quercetti rammed into his car as he was on his way home from his shift at the Avondale police barracks on March 27.
She was driving drunk the wrong way on Route 41 in London Grove, with her headlights off and her 4-year-old son in the back seat.
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"You get up in the morning and it is fresh, it is new, and it is all over again," echoed Debra Iwaniec. "And it's greater than it was before."
Quercetti, 40, of Landenberg, pleaded guilty to charges of homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence, endangering the welfare of children, and two counts of recklessly endangering another person.
First Assistant District Attorney Patrick Carmody, who is prosecuting the case, told Nagle that he would be seeking a maximum sentence of 11 to 22 years in state prison for the crimes. The charge of homicide by vehicle while DUI carries with it a mandatory minimum sentence of three years in person.
Quercetti, who appeared in court in a black dress and a green plaid jacket, has been incarcerated since leaving the hospital after the crash. She was kept in handcuffs and leg shackles during the hearing.
Her sentencing will take place Jan. 12 after the completion of a pre-sentencing investigation.
In setting out the prosecution's contentions in the case, Carmody told Nagle investigators were able to pinpoint certain details of Quercetti's actions the day of the crash.
She was seen leaving a Chuck E. Cheese's restaurant in Reading in her 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe in the late afternoon with her son in the rear seat, and then spotted buying a bottle of Grey Goose vodka at a liquor store in Morgantown about 7 p.m.
At 8:48 p.m., there was a 911 call concerning a 2007 Tahoe that was driving erratically and traveling about 70 or 80 miles per hour with a child in the rear seat watching a DVD player.
At 10:14 p.m., three separate truck drivers heard transmissions over their CB radios about a SUV driving south on Route 41 with its headlights off, forcing cars off the road. All three then came upon the crash scene.
Just before the crash, Quercetti's Tahoe clipped a car driven by 64-year-old Larry Keith, ripping its side rearview mirror off. Carmody said Keith did not know a car had hit him because he did not see any headlights. But seconds later, he looked in the rearview mirror and saw sparks and what seemed like fireworks. It was the collision of Quercetti's and Iwaniec's cars.
Quercetti's car had left the southbound lanes of Route 41 and drifted into the northbound lanes. Iwaniec was driving home from his shift at the Avondale State Police barracks when she collided with him head-on. An accident reconstruction expert estimated her speed at over 70 mph at the time, Carmody said.
"Miss Quercetti cracked her left ankle," Carmody said. "Kenton Iwaniec was killed."
A toxicology report later determined that Quercetti's blood alcohol count was 0.34, more than four times the legal limit. She also had 40 nanograms of Oxycodone in her system at the time.
Thomas Ramsay of Exton, Quercetti's defense attorney, said that he had gone over his client's decision to plead guilty at length with her, both in the days leading up to Thursday's proceedings and just prior to the hearing.
"There is no question that she did commit a serious crime," Ramsay said. "And that she did a bad thing. But she's not a bad person.'
Nagle asked Quercetti a series of questions to determine whether she was aware of the consequences of pleading guilty without an agreed-to sentence. She answered that she was aware of what she was doing in giving up her rights to a trial by jury.
"Yes sir, I am," she told the judge. "Yes sir, I'm guilty."
Ramsay said his client had intended to plead guilty from the start and never raised any questions about filing pre-trial motions or challenging the evidence against her.
"From the first time that I met her she has been extremely remorseful," Ramsay told Nagle. She cries every day "for the trooper and for her son."
That comment drew a sharp reaction from Debra Iwaniec, who said she and her friends and family had driven more than four hours from her home in western Pennsylvania to attend the proceedings, even though they were not permitted to speak about the plea.
"I just can't fathom that she would show more sympathy to her victim's family than to her own son, who was not injured in the crash, she said. "Whatever her sentence will be, ours will be a life sentence that will go on forever."
Kenton Iwaniec was buried April 4 after a funeral at St. Vincent Basilica Parish, roughly 40 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. Iwaniec was buried at Fairmont Cemetery in Cook Township. Roughly 160 state troopers attended the services with hundreds of Iwaniec's family members and friends.
