BANGOR, Maine — A Hudson man accused of being drunk early New Year’s Day when he drove his Jeep into a tree in a crash that killed his fiancee pleaded guilty Thursday at the Penobscot Judicial Center to one count each of manslaughter and aggravated operating under the influence of intoxicants.
Shawn MacNevin, 43, is scheduled to be sentenced at 9 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 1, by Superior Court Justice William Anderson.
Anderson said he wanted time to consider how long MacNevin should spend behind bars.
MacNevin emotionally apologized to the friends and family of his longtime partner and mother of his children.
“I deeply regret the decision I made that night to drive,” he said. “I have changed the lives of those that knew her forever. I have changed my life forever.”
A plea agreement with the Penobscot County district attorney’s office recommended MacNevin be sentenced to 12 years in prison with all but four suspended. A $2,100 fine and a license suspension of 10 years are mandatory on the drunken driving conviction.
MacNevin’s attorney Marvin Glazier asked that his client serve just two years behind bars.
The couple lived together for about 20 years and had four children together, three of whom are minors ages 16, 15 and 13, Glazier told the judge.
About a dozen people sat behind MacNevin during the sentencing hearing.
MacNevin was indicted by the Penobscot County grand jury in March in connection with the 2:30 a.m. crash on Finson Road in Bangor, which left his partner of two decades, Elizabeth “Libby” Marie Horlieca, 37, dead at the scene.
Family members emotionally urged the judge to sentence MacNevin to probation so he could continue to work to support and care for his children. The victim’s sister and MacNevin’s relatives said that if he went to prison his children would lose two parents, not just their mother.
Horlieca died of a broken neck, Michael Roberts, deputy district attorney for Penobscot County, told the judge Thursday.
MacNevin’s blood alcohol level was 0.155 percent two hours after the crash, nearly twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent, Roberts said. The defendant has three prior drunken driving convictions, two in 1998 and one in 1996.
The prosecutor also told the judge Thursday that if the case had gone to trial, he would have called witnesses who would have testified that Horlieca had not wanted to get in the Jeep with MacNevin because he had been drinking. She also had wanted to spend the night at the home where the couple attended a New Year’s Eve party, Roberts said.
MacNevin was arrested Jan. 7 and released from the Penobscot County Jail on $7,500 cash bail on Jan. 9, according to jail personnel.
Before his arrest, MacNevin was being treated at Eastern Maine Medical Center for injuries not considered life-threatening, according to a previously published report.
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 Bangor police 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 the driver and passenger and did not feel Horlieca’s pulse, the crash report stated.
The Jeep’s air bags deployed, but neither MacNevin nor Horlieca were wearing seat belts, according to the crash report.
MacNevin faced up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $50,000 on the manslaughter charge alone.
BDN writer Nok-Noi Ricker contributed to this report.