PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - Maine’s supreme court has upheld the sentence of a 16-year-old driver who was behind the wheel at the time of a crash that killed three youths.
The teen was ordered to be detained until age 21 after pleading guilty to manslaughter for the crash that killed passengers Emily Baker, 14, Ashlin Baker, 12 and Thomas Porfirio, 15.
The Supreme Judicial Court agreed with the juvenile court judge who concluded that a lesser sentence would minimize the seriousness of the conduct. In Maine, the maximum penalty for a juvenile is incarceration until age 21.
The crash happened in Clinton when the car appeared to hit a patch of ice and then struck a tree in February 2020.
The teen drove 85 mph in a 45 mph zone before losing control of the vehicle, according to the court. Three of his four passengers died.
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