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Boater pleads in deaths of fiancée, child after striking dam
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The Associated Press
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(Harrisburg) — A midstate man charged in the boating deaths of his fiancee and 3-year-old daughter has pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and other charges.
Authorities say 27-year-old Cody Binkley of Palmrya, Lebanon County, had smoked marijuana before crashing the boat into Harrisburg’s Dock Street Dam last year.
The May 7 crash dumped Binkley and his two passengers into the Susquehanna River, killing 25-year-old Mary Bredbenner and 3-year-old Madelyn Binkley. Authorities say the girl’s life jacket was not properly secured.
Binkley has said the family was heading to a campsite. He is set to be sentenced in January.
Defense lawyer Michael Palermo tells the Lebanon Daily News he is satisfied with the plea agreement. Binkley had been charged with homicide.
The city has since installed warning buoys and lights downstream from the dam.
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