Utley and Christopher Young, 18, of Vineland, N.J., had installed stereo speakers in the car earlier that day and had removed part of the back seat and the fire wall that could have protected the students, Assistant District Attorney John B. Lynch said.
Utley and two front-seat passengers, Michele Jones, 16, of Upper Darby, and Young, suffered only minor injuries.
Utley also was found guilty of driving under the influence of alcohol, reckless driving and driving at unsafe speeds. He was acquitted of the more serious charge of vehicular homicide-DUI related.
"We would have had to prove that his drinking had a direct correlation to the accident, and we just couldn't do that," Lynch said.
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A Philadelphia man escaped the penalty of death by lethal injection when the jury deliberating his sentence deadlocked after nine hours.
Delaware County Court Judge Frank T. Hazel on Wednesday sentenced Vander Keith Clayborne, 29, of the 200 block of South 60th Street, to life in prison when the jury of seven men and five women could not agree.
Clayborne was found guilty Oct. 9 of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Jeffrey Savage, 34, outside an Upper Darby apartment complex in November.
Assistant District Attorney James F. Mattera Jr. said he pushed for the death penalty because "Clayborne killed Jeffrey Savage while attempting to kill Raymond Craig."
Clayborne mistakenly believed that Craig, 29, of Philadelphia, had burglarized his home on Nov. 14. According to Craig's testimony, Clayborne threatened to kill him that evening.
The next day, Craig and his cousin, Savage, drove to Savage's apartment in the 6500 block of Marshall Road, Upper Darby.
As the men left the car, both were shot at. Savage was fatally shot in the abdomen. Seconds later, Craig was shot in the thigh.
Defense attorney Gerald A. Stein argued that Clayborne had a long history of mental illness and that Clayborne's mental capacity was diminished at the time of the shootings.
A Chester man who sexually assaulted a 13-year-old house guest has been sentenced to serve four to 23 months in Delaware County Prison, according to Assistant District Attorney Heather J. Mattes.
Raymond Bruce Millard, 24, of the 2600 block of Curran Street, pleaded guilty to statutory rape in July before Delaware County Court Judge Joseph F. Battle.
Mattes said Millard's actions constituted "a course of conduct, not one isolated incident."
He sexually assaulted the victim several times, Mattes said.
During the first incident, Millard placed his hand inside the waistband of the victim's shorts and onto her stomach while making suggestive remarks, according to an affidavit in the case. When the victim moved away from Millard, he repeated the actions.
On July 27, Millard kissed the girl and asked her "Are you ready yet?" four or five times before placing her on the floor and raping her, the affidavit states.
The victim and her parents, who live in Michigan, were present in court for Millard's guilty plea but were unable to make it back for his sentencing.
Millard was granted immediate work release to help support his wife and baby, Mattes said.
