Tears flowed inside and outside a Carroll County courtroom yesterday, as a former Westminster man received a 10-year prison sentence for killing a Randallstown man and injuring four family members in a crash in April on Route 140 near Taneytown.

Richard Robinson, 28, died, and his wife Mary, 27; his mother, Diane Robinson, 47; and sons Bradley, 3, and Zachary, 2, were injured as the family headed toward Taneytown about noon April 6 in a 1990 Dodge van -- to buy "a big-boy bed" for Bradley. Only Zachary escaped serious injury.

Minutes earlier, Jeffrey B. Quante IV, 26, had burglarized a house in search of painkillers -- an addiction he developed as the result of an accident 10 years ago, said defense attorney David B. Weisgerber. "Jeffrey was the victim of a horrific accident," he said.

Quante was 15, riding his bicycle on the grass near his family's home on Silver Run Road, when a speeding teen-age driver struck him, knocking him onto the hood and through the windshield -- then dumping him in the road.

Quante's life was in jeopardy for months as he received muscle, bone and skin grafts, and he had to quit high school and work as a laborer, Weisgerber said. He said Quante sought prescription painkillers wherever he could, trying to get them from doctors and stealing them or using marijuana when he failed.

Ten years after that accident, Quante swallowed prescription painkillers before heading down Route 140, where he crossed the center line and struck the Robinson van, according to a statement of facts given by Assistant State's Attorney Brian L. DeLeonardo.

Quante, who has a wife and four children, pleaded guilty Jan. 5 to automobile manslaughter, causing life-threatening injuries while intoxicated, burglary, possession of marijuana and driving while intoxicated.

Pub Date: 3/18/99