BANGOR, Maine — An Orrington woman was sentenced Thursday to spend 2½ years behind bars in connection with the death of her friend in a car crash but will not enter prison until March 1 due to the impending birth of her daughter.
Sarah Courtney, 34, pleaded no contest Sept. 18 to one count each of manslaughter and aggravated criminal operating under the influence of intoxicants.
No-contest pleas result in convictions.
Courtney was sentenced at the Penobscot Judicial Center to 10 years in prison with all but 2½ suspended, followed by four years probation for manslaughter. Superior Court Justice Ann Murray also ordered Courtney to pay $10,330 in restitution to cover the cost of the victim’s funeral.
On the drunken driving charge, Murray sentenced Courtney to six months in prison to be served concurrently. The judge also ordered her to pay a $2,100 fine and suspended her driver’s license for six years.
Sarah Eason, 28, a passenger in the sport utility vehicle Courtney was driving, was killed April 20, 2013, when Courtney failed to negotiate a curve on Bog Road in Hampden. The women were friends and had been bar hopping in Bangor and Brewer just before the crash.
Courtney’s blood alcohol level was .14, nearly twice the legal limit of .08 percent, Penobscot County District Attorney R. Christopher Almy told the judge last month. She also was driving 57 mph in a 45-mph zone, he said.
Sobbing, Courtney on Thursday told Superior Court Justice Ann Murray that she missed her friend Sarah every day. “When I close my eyes at night, I see her face.”
Bail conditions have prevented Courtney, who has no criminal record, from having contact with Eason’s family before the sentencing. She apologized to them just before being sentenced.
“My sorrow and remorse is overwhelming,” she said.
Mary-Lynne Eason of Brewer, Sarah Eason’s mother, told the judge that “since the crash, my life has become a nightmare from which I will never wake up.” Eason said that because of her daughter’s death she could no longer work and was struggling emotionally and economically.
The weeping mother, flanked by her son Patrick Eason of Brewer, said that Courtney’s “continued refusal to accept responsibility reveals a lot about her character.” Eason urged the judge to impose “a longer sentence to send a stronger message to the community so no other mother has to stand here.”
In imposing the sentence, Murray said that Courtney had accepted responsibility for her crimes.
Almy told the judge that although he thought the plea agreement was fair, he opposed a stay longer than 42 days, the maternity leave granted to female members of the military.
Courtney’s due date is Nov. 22 but her daughter is expected to be delivered earlier due to gestational diabetes. Courtney, who sought a stay until April 1, remains free on $2,000 bail.
The sentence imposed was jointly recommended by Almy and defense attorney Richard Hartley of Bangor.
Eason was described in her obituary, published April 24, 2013, in the Bangor Daily News, as loved and as someone who accepted people without judgment. She traveled for two seasons with Fiesta Shows, where she made friends all over the world, the obituary said. Eason was an organ donor.
Courtney faced up to 30 years in prison on the manslaughter charge alone.
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