BANGOR, Maine — A judge set bail at $7,500 Friday for a Hudson man who police say was drunk when he drove his Jeep into a tree New Year’s Day in a crash that killed his fiancee.
Shawn Macnevin, 42, who has three prior operating under the influence convictions, is charged with aggravated criminal operating under the influence for his role in the deadly 2:30 a.m. crash on Finson Road, which left his partner of two decades, Elizabeth “Libby” Marie Horlieca, 37, dead at the scene.
Macnevin went before District Court Judge John Lucy, who set his bail. Lucy also added conditions that Macnevin not possess alcohol or drugs or be “present where alcohol is used” as well as a curfew of 9 p.m.-6 a.m. if he is released on bail from Penobscot County Jail to await adjudication.
Lucy did not ask Macnevin to enter a plea because the crime is a felony and he has not yet been indicted by the Penobscot County grand jury, which will convene later this month.
“There is no denying this is a terrible tragedy,” said Devon DeMarco, Macnevin’s attorney for the day. “For 20 years, they lived together like a married couple.”
She went on to say Macnevin and Horlieca have three children together, and that Macnevin treated Horlieca’s oldest child, from another relationship, like his own.
Michael Roberts, deputy district attorney for Penobscot County, said Macnevin has three prior drunken driving convictions, two from 1998 and one from 1996, and asked Lucy to set bail at $10,000. DeMarco said her client is a carpenter and the sole bread-winner for the family when she asked for a $2,500 bail “to help maintain the household.”
After hearing the judge set bail at $7,500, some family members in the courtroom groaned.
Macnevin, a race car driver at Hermon’s Speedway 95, was sentenced to spend a total of 59 days behind bars, pay $1,200 in fines and also was forced to seek alcohol treatment for his three prior operating under the influence convictions, according to Bangor Daily News archives.
He faces up to 10 years behind bars if convicted of the Class B drunken driving charge he now faces.
Six people found Macnevin’s smashed vehicle when they returned to a home on Finson Road after a New Year’s party and noticed snow and ice scattered across the roadway, according to the initial crash report filed by Officer Jose Vidaurri.
They found his vehicle with massive front-end damage up against a tree. A woman in the group checked the pulse of both the driver and passenger and she did not feel a Horlieca’s pulse, the crash report states.
When paramedics arrived, they found Macnevin was breathing. He was taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center with serious but not life-threatening injuries, according to Bangor police Sgt. Tim Cotton.
The Jeep’s air bags deployed but neither Macnevin nor Horlieca were wearing seat belts, according to the crash report.