ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) - A truck driver accused of having fallen asleep before a fiery fatal crash along a busy northeastern Pennsylvania highway has pleaded no contest to charges in the case.

The (Easton) Express-Times (http://bit.ly/1zBKNDJ ) reports that 56-year-old Robert Gawne Sr. of Allentown entered the plea Monday in Northampton County Court to charges including vehicular homicide, involuntary manslaughter, and reckless endangerment.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys, who had just spent hours picking a jury, then agreed upon a state prison sentence of 4½ to 9 years.

Authorities said Gawne's truck struck a car that had stopped at a toll booth on Interstate 78 near the New Jersey line in Williams Township in January 2014, killing 65-year-old Daniel Murphy of Hackettstown, New Jersey.

Before he was led away, Gawne apologized to family members.

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Information from: The (Easton, Pa.) Express-Times,

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