Man pleads guilty in 2022 Springfield Township overdose death
A Kutztown resident pleaded guilty on Thursday, June 26, 2025, to charges stemming from the 2022 overdose death of a 62-year-old man in a Springfield Township apartment and was sentenced to a state correctional institution.
William Randall Wright, 39, appeared before Common Pleas Judge Wallace H. Bateman Jr., admitting to selling the deadly drugs that killed Steven Newhart. His negotiated plea included drug delivery resulting in death, criminal use of a communication facility, and involuntary manslaughter.
Before sentencing, Deputy District Attorney Thomas C. Gannon provided the judge statements from Newhart’s children, which detailed the impact of losing him. His daughter wrote, “I do not wish this pain on anyone.”
Wright also read a statement before Judge Bateman delivered the sentence: four to 15 years in state prison, along with a concurrent 12 years of probation.
Wright was arrested on June 18, 2024, almost two years after Newhart’s death.
