BANGOR, Maine — A Greenbush man was charged with manslaughter and driving drunk Tuesday in connection with a vehicle crash in February that claimed the life of his brother, according to the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office.
Nicholas Spencer, 22, was charged with Class A manslaughter and Class B aggravated operating under the influence after he turned himself in when he learned a warrant had been issued for his arrest.
District Court Judge Bruce Jordan set bail for Spencer, who has a prior OUI conviction from 2013, at $10,000 cash on Wednesday during his first court appearance at the Penobscot Judicial Center. He also ordered that Spencer not have contact with several witnesses, if released.
His father, who did not identify himself, made a passionate plea for the judge to reduce the bail.
“Not only did my son lose his brother, he lost his best friend,” Spencer’s father said. “I don’t agree with what they did that night, but the kid has suffered enough. He still has fluid on the brain.”
The statement made his son, who was present in the courtroom by videoconferencing from Penobscot County Jail, break into tears.
The judge said he had reviewed the probable cause affidavit and determined that “this was not a spur of the moment decision,” and given Spencer’s previous drunken driving conviction, he would not reduce the bail.
Brendan Trainor, assistant district attorney for Penobscot County, said he asked for the $10,000 bail “given the extreme result of the incident and the extreme recklessness combined with the OUI of 2013.”
The affidavit was sealed.
Spencer, 22, was driving on County Road in Milford at a high rate of speed on Feb. 24 when he lost control of his vehicle and struck a telephone pole and a large rock, Chief Deputy William Sheehan of the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement released at the time.
His brother, Matthew Spencer, 28, also of Greenbush, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Nicholas Spencer suffered life-threatening injuries, and a second passenger, Samuel Ketch, then 29, of Milford, suffered minor injuries.
“He broke his arm, back and neck,” his attorney for the day said of Spencer.
The Spencer brothers and Ketch had stopped at Milford On The Run just before the collision, Sheehan said.
Assistant District Attorney Marianne Lynch is handling the case.
Jordan said the case against Spencer would be presented to the Penobscot County grand jury, which convenes later this month.
Manslaughter carries a penalty of up to 30 years in prison, and aggravated assault has a penalty of up to 10 years.