Man Pleads To Wife's Hit-And-Run Murder In Falls Twp.

FALLS TOWNSHIP, PA — A Bucks County man who was drunk when he pushed his wife out of a moving truck in Falls, then struck her with the truck, has pleaded no contest to murder in her death.

Andrew Lawrence Ryan, 34, of Warminster, admitted to third-degree murder on Thursday and was sentenced to 10-30 years in state prison, according to the Bucks County District Attorney's office.

Ryan already was serving 7-20 years in prison for aggravated assault and hit-and-run in the incident. Robin Ryan was injured in the Falls Township incident on July 24, 2017 and died last April.

Prosecutors added the murder charge three months after Robin's death.

On Thursday, Common Pleas Court Judge Brian T. McGuffin said that, in his career as a judge, he had never seen such "cold-hearted indifference to someone you say you cared about and loved."

According to witnesses, Robin Ryan appeared to fly backward from the cab of the Ford F-250 that Andrew Ryan was driving that night, hit the pavement and was run over by the landscaping trailer it was hauling.

As bystanders rushed to help her, Andrew Ryan drove away from the scene.

He pleaded guilty in July 2018 to charges that included felony assault and hit-and-run and that September — before Robin's death — he was sentenced to 7-20 years in prison.

According to a criminal complaint, Ryan told police he and his wife had been "bickering" about finances prior to the incident. He said he fled the scene after his wife fell from the vehicle because he was drunk, having consumed beer and tequila at a bar before driving.

"I feel terrible for Ms. Ryan's family, knowing they've had to relive this horrific crime every day for years since it was committed against her," Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub said. "Sadly, her death now seems to have been inevitable from the moment the defendant pushed her from his moving vehicle. I don't know that the defendant's additional prison sentence gives Ms. Ryan's family any peace or finality, but I pray that it does."

Andrew Ryan is serving his sentence at SCI-Forest in Marienville, Forest County.

Robin Ryan's injuries left her unresponsive and requiring of constant care until her death on April 27, 2019. Her aunt, grandmother and neighbors attended Thursday's hearing and gave statements detailing how her death devastated her family. She had a 1-year-old daughter who has since been adopted, according to Martha McMillan, Ryan's aunt, who served as her legal guardian.

"The effects of this incident has disrupted our family life forever," McMillan said Thursday.