The Portland Press Herald / The Maine Sunday Telegram

February 26

OUI boater applies to finish term at home

TREVOR MAXWELL

— By

Staff Writer

Robert LaPointe, the Massachusetts man who was sentenced to more than three years in prison after a boat crash that killed two people in Harrison in August 2007, has applied for a program that would let him leave prison several months early.

LaPointe, 40, is scheduled to be released in July 2011. But if he wins approval from the state Department of Corrections, he will be allowed to get a job and live in Bridgton, possibly beginning in a few months.

The Supervised Community Confinement Program is essentially a form of house arrest, in which participants can leave home only for work, school or other purposes approved by a probation officer.

Relatives of the crash victims and Cumberland County District Attorney Stephanie Anderson said Wednesday they are outraged and will advocate to keep LaPointe behind bars. They learned about LaPointe's application this week from a Department of Corrections victim liaison.

''On a scale of one to 10, with one being in favor of this idea and 10 being 'over my dead body,' I'm an 11,'' Anderson said. ''He ought to serve his sentence. This is the kind of person who thinks the laws are meant for other people and not for him.

''He showed no remorse whatsoever, and he blamed the victims for this tragedy,'' she said.

Before he was incarcerated, LaPointe lived with his wife and children in Medway, Mass., and the family spent much of its time in the summer at a second home in Bridgton.

On the night of Aug. 11, 2007, LaPointe was operating his 32-foot powerboat, called No Patience, on Long Lake in Harrison. Around 9 p.m., LaPointe's boat ran over and crushed a 14-foot boat in the middle of the lake. The crash killed both people in the smaller boat: Terry Raye Trott, 55, of Harrison and his girlfriend, Suzanne Groetzinger, 44, of Berwick.

A blood test showed that LaPointe's blood-alcohol content was 0.11 percent three hours after the crash. Maine's legal limit to operate a boat or a motor vehicle is 0.08 percent.

LaPointe's trial started on Sept. 9, 2008, in Cumberland County Superior Court.

Prosecutors and several witnesses said LaPointe drank beer throughout the day of the crash, and that his speed -- allegedly at least 45 mph -- was reckless for night boating.

Defense lawyers described the crash as a tragic accident. They said LaPointe was not intoxicated and that Trott's boat didn't have any lights showing. LaPointe testified that he drank only three beers that day, and that he was driving about 30 mph at the time of the crash.

The jury convicted LaPointe on two counts of aggravated operating under the influence, but deadlocked on the more serious charge of manslaughter.

At the sentencing on Nov. 12, 2008, Justice Robert Crowley blasted LaPointe for what he called efforts to avoid responsibility. The judge said LaPointe showed no remorse and lied on the witness stand about how much beer he drank on the day of the crash.

Crowley also noted LaPointe's long history of motor vehicle violations: 23 citations for speeding, five for failure to stop at lights or stop signs, 12 license suspensions and nine additional violations of various types.

Crowley sentenced LaPointe to 3½ years in prison. He has served 15 months.

If LaPointe earns the highest possible deduction for good behavior, his sentence would be reduced to about 32 months and he would be eligible for release in July 2011, said Denise Lord, an associate commissioner of the Department of Corrections.

To qualify for the Supervised Community Confinement Program, inmates with sentences of less than five years must have served at least half of the total, with good-behavior time included in the equation. That means LaPointe could qualify for the program within the next few months.

The Legislature approved the program in 1991, but it was not implemented until 1998. Some of the program's goals were to save money, reduce prison overcrowding, and help minimum-security inmates find employment and transition back into mainstream life.

Participants are still considered prisoners. They are subject to random searches of their homes, they are not allowed to possess drugs or alcohol, and their activities are closely monitored by probation officers.

Fewer than half of the inmates who apply for community confinement are approved, Lord said. Those who are accepted typically have six months or less remaining on their sentences, she said. At any given time, about 20 to 25 inmates are enrolled in the program.

Now that LaPointe has completed his application, the state's probation division will seek input from the prosecutor, law enforcement agencies and the families of the victims.

Opinions from all of those sources will factor into the decision, which will be made by administrators at the Bolduc Correctional Facility in Warren, where LaPointe is incarcerated.

Meg Harvey, a close friend of Groetzinger, said family members of the victims have until Feb. 16 to complete impact statements. Several relatives are writing their statements, and they are angry that LaPointe would even have an opportunity for community release, Harvey said Wednesday.

''Right now they are reeling,'' she said.

''Suzie just had a brand new grandbaby. Her dad just lost his wife. Her baby, Jordan, just went to college, and her sister just went through a battle with breast cancer. Suzie couldn't be there for any of it, because of what Robert LaPointe did,'' Harvey said.

Calls to LaPointe's father were not returned Wednesday, and efforts to reach his wife were not successful.

Staff Writer Trevor Maxwell can be contacted at 791-6451 or at:

tmaxwell@pressherald.com