AUGUSTA — Almost 18 months ago, Alyssa Danielle Marcellino was driving east about 7:30 a.m. on Route 202 in Monmouth. Her 1999 Mercury Mountaineer drifted into the westbound lane in front of a 2006 Hyundai Elantra.

Gene Potter, the Hyundai driver, swerved into the eastbound lane to avoid the other vehicle, but Marcellino corrected too, swerving back into the same lane.

Alyssa Danielle Marcellino, 24, of Winthrop, wipes away tears during an emotional sentencing hearing Wednesday at Augusta’s Capital Judicial Center. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

Superior Court Justice William Stokes said he does not believe that his past affiliation with Mayors Against Illegal Guns would have a bearing on any ruling in Harvey Lembo’s case, but told the attorneys that they can file motions if they want him to recuse himself. 2015 file photo/Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

The two vehicles collided head-on, killing Potter’s passenger, Joan Fortier, 67, of Mount Vernon, who was Potter’s sister and neighbor.

On Wednesday, Marcellino was sentenced to six years in prison, with all but 32 months suspended. She also was placed on probation for five years.

“I want her on probation for essentially the rest of (her) 20s,” Justice William Stokes said during the hearing at the Capital Judicial Center.

GUILTY ON MULTIPLE COUNTS

Marcellino, now 24, of Winthrop, had pleaded guilty Aug. 3 to a number of charges, including causing a death while her license was suspended or revoked, which carries a maximum 10-year sentence. She also pleaded guilty to causing serious bodily injury while her license was suspended or revoked, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. That charge related to the injuries suffered by Potter, then 70, in the March 2014 crash on a road lined by snowbanks.

Both the prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Paul Cavanaugh, and the defense attorney, Sherry Tash, said Marcellino never held a valid driver’s license. Her right to have a license had been suspended because of prior convictions for driving without a license.

On Wednesday morning, at the hearing watched by more than 30 people, Stokes sentenced Marcellino for her actions in the fatal crash and for later offenses, including a scheme to steal checks and forge them and get other people to cash them.

During the hearing, Marcellino sat at a table next to her defense attorney, staring straight ahead at the judge.

She read a series of letters of apology to Fortier’s family, to Potter and to her family, as well as to the people from whom she stole checks and the people she had cash them.

“I lost myself to drugs, which is, of course, no excuse,” Marcellino said.

She said she stole money to support her addiction and that it took being arrested to force her to become sober. At one point, Marcellino said, “I have done the unspeakable,” and that she wanted to do everything she could to make amends.

To Potter, who was in the courtroom, Marcellino said, “I had no right to be on the road that day.”

Potter declined a request to be interviewed Wednesday.

REGRETS, RECURRING NIGHTMARE

Marcellino told Fortier’s family, “I wish every day I could bring her back.”

She told the judge that she has a recurring nightmare about the fatal crash.

“I could not close my eyes without being behind the wheel of that car again,” she said.

Her voice broke, and she paused a number of times, talking as she cried.

“I regret every single day the decision I made that caused so much pain,” Marcellino said, quoting several passages from the Bible.

She said she wanted to do a better job of raising her son. “I am determined to live a clean and respectable life,” she said.

“Your phrase was ‘addiction is messy,’ and it sure is,” Stokes told her. “It’s caused a lot of grief for you and for an innocent family.”

At the start of the hearing, Stokes said he had read letters and emails from Fortier’s daughter and granddaughter, and from Potter and her relatives. He read “gratitude letters” from Marcellino and letters in support of Marcellino, including one from her twin sister.

Stokes also noted that as a result of the conviction for causing a death while her license was suspended or revoked, the secretary of state will suspend her driver’s license for 10 years.

Cavanaugh, the deputy district attorney, had urged the judge to impose a split sentence of 12 years, with an initial four years served and three years of probation. He also suggested the possibility of consecutive suspended sentences to get a longer period of probation, which Stokes eventually imposed.

Tash had urged the judge to impose a split five-year sentence, with an initial 26 months to be served and the remainder suspended, and a three-year probationary period.

She said the fatal crash was an accident with tragic consequences.

“(Marcellino) went to get her cigarettes on the dashboard,” Tash said. “She looked up and saw something kind of white on the road by her tire and she took evasive action.”

She has been held in jail on various charges for the past 17 months and will receive credit for the time served.

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