BANGOR, Maine — A local man was sentenced Monday at the Penobscot Judicial Center to 10 years in prison with all but 32 months suspended in connection with a drunken driving crash last year that claimed the life of a 20-year-old Hermon man.
Keith Austin, 23, of Bangor pleaded guilty to manslaughter and aggravated criminal operating under the influence of alcohol shortly before he was sentenced.
By pleading guilty, he admitted to having a blood alcohol level of 0.21 percent, nearly three times the legal limit of 0.08 for operating a vehicle, on June 18. Nick Frenette, a passenger in the vehicle, later died of his injuries.
“I wake up every morning and wish I could trade places with him,” a tearful Austin told the judge. “I take responsibility for my actions.”
In addition to prison time, Superior Court Justice William Anderson sentenced Austin to four years of probation and ordered him to pay $1,665 in funeral expenses to Frenette’s family and the mandatory minimum fine of $2,500 on the OUI conviction.
“Unlike other defendants who have been before me, he did not say he was sorry that something happened [that caused someone’s death],” Anderson said in imposing the sentence. “He said, ‘I caused this.’ I’m impressed with Mr. Austin’s sense of responsibility. I believe it is sincere.”
Austin and a second passenger, Sarah Hawkins, 20, of Hermon, suffered minor injures in the single-vehicle crash and were not hospitalized.
Hawkins spoke on Austin’s behalf, as did Frenette’s fiance, Cassandra Longfellow, who is the mother of the deceased man’s son, now 18 months old. Both women urged Anderson to show mercy.
“Keith lost his best friend,” Longfellow said as she wept. “I’m not here to say Keith didn’t do anything wrong, but he’s already been punished. Please don’t make me, my son or Sarah lose anyone else. Please don’t let this horrible tragedy cause more pain than it already has.”
Frenette’s friend Aaron Withers, 23, of Hampden told the court that “the sentence serves a purpose outside of punishing the guilty. That purpose is to discourage others from making the same choices that Keith did; to prevent lives from being lost; to make people who know or hear about Keith’s punishment think twice before getting behind the wheel while intoxicated. And to that end, a longer sentence is better because it carries more weight as a deterrent.”
Austin was driving about 9 p.m. June 18 when the crash occurred on Annis Road in Hermon, according to Marianne Lynch, assistant attorney general for Penobscot County. She told the judge that Austin also was speeding when the crash occurred.
Lynch said the car went off the road, struck a utility pole and two trees before coming to rest in the road. Neither Frenette nor Austin were wearing seatbelts and both were thrown from the car, she said.
The prosecutor recommended the judge impose a three-year sentence. Defense attorney Jeffrey Silverstein of Bangor urged Anderson to sentence Austin to 2½ years in prison.
Silverstein told the judge that Austin had worked full-time for Casella Waste Systems for more than six months as a trash collector, attended college part-time and saved $1,300 to give to Longfellow and her son to help with expenses. The attorney said that until Monday, the woman did not know about the fund.
Austin had been free on $20,000 cash bail since July 20. He faced up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up $50,000 on the manslaughter charge and up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $20,000 on the drunken driving charge.