PORTLAND, Maine — A Gorham woman will serve four years in prison after pleading guilty Monday to two counts of manslaughter for the October 2014 deaths of her boyfriend and 16-year-old son.
According to the terms of a plea agreement, Candice Tucker, 35, was sentenced to two terms of 12 years in prison, with all but four years suspended, and four years probation for the Oct. 19, 2014, crash that killed Eric S. Morey, 35, and Branden Denis, 16.
Two charges of Class B aggravated operating under the influence were dismissed by the district attorney’s office.
Cumberland County Assistant District Attorney Michael Madigan told Justice Nancy Mills on Monday that witnesses and other evidence would have shown that Tucker was driving at 85 mph on Route 302 in Naples the evening of Oct. 19, 2014, when her car crossed in front of oncoming traffic and hit a tree, “essentially splitting the car in half.”
Morey and Denis died at the scene as a result of blunt force trauma. Tucker was taken to Bridgton Hospital, where one blood test revealed her blood alcohol content was .07 and another showed it was .05, Madigan said.
Tucker was indicted in December 2014 on two counts of manslaughter and two counts of aggravated operating under the influence. She faced a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, a $50,000 fine and four years probation on each count.
But Mills told Tucker and about a dozen members of the victims’ families that although Tucker was previously convicted of operating under the influence in 2002 and operating after suspension in 2005, a number of mitigating factors prompted her to agree to the sentence.
According to Tucker’s attorney, Amanda Doherty, Tucker underwent brain surgery in 2000 for seizures, and the surgery affected her frontal lobe and “ended up significantly affecting her anxiety levels.” After subsequent surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome, she became addicted to Vicodin, Doherty said.
Tucker entered a detox program at Mercy Hospital, Doherty said, and later attended a methadone clinic, but then she lost her health insurance. She was awaiting an appointment with a psychiatrist at the time of the crash.
Doherty said Tucker has accepted responsibility for the crash, adding that she tried to kill herself in the ambulance when she heard of the two deaths after the crash. She then admitted herself to Spring Harbor Hospital in South Portland for treatment until she was arrested in December.
Before accepting the plea and the joint sentence recommendation, Mills heard from a number of family members, including Kevin Denis, Branden Denis’ paternal grandfather.
Kevin Denis told Mills that his “phenomenal” grandson was the leader of the family, which was “devastated” by his death. His two siblings, Denis said, continue to struggle.
“His sister cries herself to sleep at night, and his brother is broken,” Denis said. “We’re trying to put him back together.”
Mary Plummer, who told Mills she was the mother of Morey’s children, spoke against what she said was a lenient sentence for someone who had “flaunted” the law.
“Candice will get out and she will get behind the wheel again,” Plummer said. “She’s broken. … I do not believe she has changed. I ask the court to keep us as safe as possible.”
But Mills said the case’s mitigating factors pointed to “a low likelihood of reoffense,” noting that Tucker had already begun efforts at rehabilitation prior to the crash. Mills said Tucker seemed to find “sparse treatment” for the emotional issues that resulted from her brain surgery and addiction, and she said 12 years seemed “fair and reasonable.”
The sentence will allow Tucker to undergo substance abuse and mental health treatment and medication, Mills said, adding, “We protect the public by rehabilitating defendants. … We have got to focus on rehabilitation. That’s what this sentence does, so this conduct does not happen again.”
After the hearing, Plummer confronted Madigan in the courtroom, asking why he would allow the deal instead of taking the case to trial.
Madigan told her that similar recent cases across the state have drawn jail terms of 18 to 36 months.
“We are always looking to find a balanced outcome, and I think that’s exactly what this is,” Madigan said later on Monday. “Nobody can deny that this is always going to be a life sentence for her. She’s always going to be responsible for the death of her boyfriend and her son.”
Kevin and Susan Denis of Steep Falls, Branden Denis’ paternal grandparents, said outside the courtroom that while Tucker had tried to get help, they’d believed for years that Tucker’s addiction would lead to tragedy.
“We assumed she was going to kill somebody eventually,” Kevin Denis said. “But you have to accept what the state of Maine says.”