Six college students who hosted parties last February that a 19-year-old from Orono attended before she was found dead in a snowbank the next day pleaded guilty Thursday to the same misdemeanor charge.
Alexie Adams, 19, died accidentally of acute intoxication from a combination of cocaine and alcohol, according to the Maine Medical Examiner’s Office. Hypothermia was found to be a contributing factor in her death because the temperature was 2 degrees in Orono the night of Feb. 2, 2018.
Adams’ blood alcohol level was 0.26 percent at the time of her death, more than three times the legal limit to operate a vehicle, Devon DeMarco, deputy district attorney for Penobscot County, told the judge.
She also had a potentially fatal amount of cocaine in her system, according to defense attorneys.
All six defendants, who were students at the University of Maine last February, pleaded guilty to one count each of providing a place for minors to consume alcohol. Superior Court Justice William Anderson ordered each defendant to pay a fines ranging from $500 to $1,750. He ordered four defendants to perform 50 hours of community service in addition to paying the fines.
DeMarco said that Adams, who was attending UMaine, and her friends were party hopping that night at three different student apartments. The prosecutor compared the alcohol consumption at each location to a fire.
“The first party was the spark,” DeMarco said. “By the time she got to the second, the blaze was getting going. But when she got to the third, the fire was fully engaged.”
Adams and several female friends gathered at the apartment of Matthew Greenlaw, now 21, of Orono at about 8:30 p.m. Feb. 2, the prosecutor said. They then moved on to an apartment near the University of Maine where Blake Bickford, 21, lived.
Bickford was the only defendant who cooperated immediately with police and was remorseful, DeMarco said. He was not aware until after her death that Adams had been at the party.
Adams’ final stop that night was at an apartment in the Orchard Trails student housing complex leased to Trevor Carter, Christopher Dionne, Ethan Smith and Tristan Harvie, who now all are over 21. More than 50 people attended the party to celebrate Harvie’s birthday, the prosecutor said. Most of the people who attended were freshmen and sophomores at UMaine. At least one attendee was just 15.
A “good Samaritan” gave Adams, who was highly intoxicated, a ride home at about 1:30 a.m. Feb. 3, but dropped her off at the wrong address, Bangor attorney David Bate, who represented Dionne, told the judge.
Anderson ordered Greenlaw to pay a $500 fine and Bickford to pay a $1,000 fine. The judge ordered Dionne, Carter and Harvie to pay fines of $1,500 each and to perform 50 hours each of community service before July 1. Anderson ordered Smith to pay a fine of $1,750 and to perform 50 hours of community service.
The punishment was more severe in their cases because Adams spent the most time at that apartment and is believed to have consumed more alcohol there than at the two other parties. Smith’s fine was highest due to a prior conviction for an alcohol offense.
Greenlaw was the only defendant whose complaint named Adams as the victim. The victims named in the complaints against the other five defendants were other people under the age of 21 who drank alcohol at the parties.
Anderson described the case as an example of the potentially tragic consequences of underage drinking. The judge expressed some frustration with the fact that because felony charges that named Adams as the victim were dismissed during plea negotiations between prosecutors and defense attorneys, he could not determine how much, if at all, each defendant contributed to her death. None of them admitted to meeting Adams before that night.
Still, defense attorneys told Anderson that Adams’ death had an impact on their clients. Most sought out counseling, at least two took a semester off and one now attends a community college.
Although the judge found that the defendants were not legally responsible for the 19-year-old’s death, Anderson allowed Adams’ father, Phillip Adams of Bell City, Missouri, to speak about the impact his daughter’s death has had on the family.
“It just hurts forever,” he told the judge.