Gilbertsville man sent to jail for drunken motorcycle crash that killed Lower Pottsgrove woman

Jesse Kling of Gilbertsville was sentenced on May 30, 2024, to 9 to 20 years in prison for driving while under the influence of alcohol causing a motorcycle accident that killed his girlfriend. (Photo by Carl Hessler Jr. – MediaNews Group)

NORRISTOWN – A judge said a Gilbertsville man with previous drunken driving convictions showed no love toward his girlfriend when he decided to operate a motorcycle while under the influence of methamphetamine and with a suspended license, violating numerous traffic laws and ultimately causing a two-vehicle crash in Limerick that killed his partner, who was riding in the back seat of the Harley Davidson Sportster.

Before learning his fate of involuntary manslaughter, 37-year-old Jesse Raymond Kling of 1200 East Philadelphia Avenue, he confessed his love for his late girlfriend, 28-year-old Brittany Langevin of Lower Pottsgrove, and said he was devastated by her death.

“Unfortunately, your actions proved otherwise,” Montgomery County Judge Wendy G. Rothstein told Kling, adding that he “showed no love for Brittany or any appreciation for her life” when he recklessly drove the motorcycle on April 20, 2023. “If you truly loved her as much as you say you do, you would not have made those decisions.”

“Even during the trial, you showed no remorse or love for Brittany,” the judge added.

Rothstein sentenced Kling to nine to 20 years in a state correctional facility. He was charged with vehicular manslaughter while under the influence of narcotics, vehicular manslaughter, driving while intoxicated, drug possession, accidents causing death without a proper license and driving without an ignition interlock in connection with the traffic accident on Ridge Pike in Limerick in which Langevin died.

In March, a jury found Kling guilty of the charges at a trial. After the jury returned its verdict, Rothstein, who presided over the trial, found Kling guilty of misdemeanor charges including illegal racing, driving while suspended and reckless and negligent driving.

The sentence included a mandatory 7-year prison term, which prosecutors requested because Kling had been convicted twice for drunk driving and in 2019 for failing to use the ignition interlock. The judge also imposed several consecutive prison terms, which prosecutors had requested for some of the charges.

Before learning of his fate, Kling, formerly of Phoenixville and East Vincent Township, apologized for his behavior and added that he was devastated by Langevin’s death.

“I’m so sorry. It happened in a matter of seconds. I can’t explain how I feel. I miss Brittany so much. I know she’s with me. I have to live with it. Apologizing doesn’t help,” Kling said.

Assistant District Attorney Gabriella Eileen Glenning asked for a prison sentence of 12 to 24 years for Kling, arguing that his behavior has only worsened since his first drunken driving conviction in 2007.

During the recent incident, Kling knew his license was suspended “and that he should not be driving,” Glenning said.

“In addition, his motorcycle had no speedometer, was not inspected, was not registered and did not have an ignition lock. Despite all of this, he decided to get on the defective motorcycle while under the influence of methamphetamine, thereby risking not only his life but also the lives of all other road users that day,” Glenning argued in court and in a verdict.

Glenning said such an accident “shaken the public’s sense of safety on our roads.”

“This defendant was a threat to the lives of every motorist on the road that day,” argued Glenning, who handled the case with co-prosecutor Erin K. Russell.

In court documents, Glenning and Russell argued that Kling was given numerous opportunities to address his drug problem, including attending 10 treatment centers between 2006 and 2023.

“The defendant has demonstrated time and again that he is not suitable for supervision or rehabilitation. Whenever he has been released from prison or treatment, he has continued to exhibit the same patterns of drug use and reckless driving,” Glenning argued.

County Chief Public Defender Christine Lora asked the judge not to give Kling more than the mandatory seven-year prison sentence.

“Jesse Kling is a man who has already learned more from this tragedy than anyone can learn in the prison system,” Lora wrote in a sentencing memo, adding that Kling’s remorse was genuine and his grief over his partner’s death was “deep.” “He is devastated and not a day has gone by that Brittany and her absence have not been at the forefront of his thoughts.”

Lora argued that Kling’s childhood was troubled and unstable. Kling’s life began to falter as a teenager, when he struggled with an uncontrolled drug problem, and when he became an adult, “the ground fell away from under him,” Lora argued.

Lora said Kling wants to finish his high school education, learn a trade, deepen his faith and commit to a sober life.

“There is no greater punishment than what he endures every day. He is changed forever,” Lora argued.

The accident occurred at the junction of High Street and Ridge Pike in Limerick Township, where eastbound High Street is being widened from two lanes to one lane and motorists are being prepared to merge onto eastbound Ridge Pike.

Witness statements indicated that the accident occurred when Kling and the driver of a Honda Accord, a 17-year-old girl, attempted to overtake each other at a junction with High Street near the Evergreen Road underpass heading east in Limerick.

Glenning argued during the trial that the driver of the Honda claimed the lane after a “back and forth” between the vehicles and that Kling “did not give up and had not finished racing” and crashed into the rear of the Honda about 28 meters after the merge. Langevin, who was not wearing a helmet, died on impact.

Kling did not testify during the trial.

But defense attorney Craig Thomas Hosay, who represented Kling in court, argued that Kling had the right of way and that the inexperienced teenage driver of the Honda acted recklessly because she should have given way to Kling when merging and was therefore more to blame for the accident.

Hosay also argued that a medical expert for the prosecution was unable to provide evidence or a conclusive opinion on whether or not Kling was impaired by the methamphetamine found in his system at the time of the accident.

According to witnesses, the driver of the Honda, who authorities said had a small amount of marijuana in her blood, was already found guilty in juvenile court of negligent homicide and driving under the influence of alcohol in connection with the accident. In juvenile court, offenders can be placed under supervision until they are 21 years old.

The investigation began at approximately 4:14 p.m. on April 20, 2023, when Limerick Police responded to the crash. Arriving officers observed the motorcycle on its right side along a guardrail and the Honda on the south side of the shoulder near the junction with Ridge Pike, according to the criminal complaint filed by Limerick Police Sergeant Matthew Daywalt.

Langevin, the passenger on the motorcycle, “was found lying on the roadway with significant and obvious traumatic brain injury” and was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, according to court documents.

“The cause of death was determined to be numerous blunt trauma injuries from the accident,” Daywalt said, citing an autopsy report.

Kling, the driver of the motorcycle, was conscious but did not provide any information about the cause of the accident while being treated by emergency services, police said.

“When he removed his clothing to care for him, several baggies consistent with illegal drugs were discovered, containing a substance that appeared to be heroin, as well as another baggie containing a substance that appeared to be methamphetamine,” Daywalt alleged. “Kling was also in possession of unidentified blue pills.”

Kling was treated at Paoli Hospital after the accident.

The investigation revealed that Kling’s license was revoked in 2020 and required an ignition interlock device. The motorcycle did not have an ignition interlock device, police said. The motorcycle had a license plate issued to another vehicle and was not currently registered, insured or inspected, court documents show.

Investigators obtained surveillance video footage from several businesses in the area showing the vehicles stopped at a red light at the intersection of High Street and Rupert Road.

“They began accelerating eastbound, taking turns without either driver yielding the right of way to the other. At one point, the Honda was almost completely in front of the Harley Davidson before impact,” Daywalt alleged. “It was clear that Kling and (the teenage Honda driver) were attempting to catch up to the other vehicle, maintain distance, or prevent it from passing or arriving at the designated destination before the other vehicle.”

Investigators concluded that Kling was “under the influence of drugs or a combination of drugs to a degree that impaired his ability to drive safely.”