ALFRED — Kimberly Gignac, who pled guilty to manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident Thursday, has a decision to make: Whether to accept a judge’s sentence of five years in prison or to withdraw her plea and proceed to trial.
Gignac, 26, was charged in connection with the death of motorcyclist Alan Morin of Steep Falls the day following the July 10 crash at the intersection of Route 202 and Grammar Road in Sanford.
The case had been originally scheduled for trial May 18, but that changed when Gignac agreed to plead guilty. Assistant District Attorney Thad West and defense counsel Joel Vincent reached a sentencing agreement of 10 years in jail with all but three years suspended, and four years probation.
But York County Superior Court Justice G. Arthur Brennan rejected that deal.
“It should be no surprise to anyone in this room that I’m not happy with the arrangement,” said Brennan. While he emphasized the sentence was his decision to make, he asked the Morin family if they had a preference to resolve the situation Thursday.
Julie Morin, Alan Morin’s widow, said she didn’t agree with the sentence that prosecutors and defense counsel had worked out.
“But I’m willing to accept it,” she said.
Brennan wasn’t. He said he agreed with the 10 year provision, but believed that five years served in prison was more appropriate.
“I’m unwilling to accept the plea. She can withdraw the plea,” he said.
On Thursday a tearful Gignac admitted that she struck Morin’s motorcycle and simply drove away. Morin and his bike skidded 60 feet before coming to rest in the road. He later died in the hospital.
“I made a terrible decision that day and if I could, I’d turn my car around,” said Gignac, who broke down in sobs and said she couldn’t continue what she’d planned to say in the courtroom.
Gignac allegedly told police she was reaching for her ringing cellphone when she struck Morin but West said cell phone records don’t bear that out.
He said friends said she called them before the crash and one said she told them she had been drinking. In one alleged conversation, West said she admitted she was under the influence of a prescription drug. West said the drug’s side effects include an effect on driving, particularly if combined with alcohol. He said when Gignac was taken into custody there were 49 pills missing from a 60-pill prescription she had filled two days before the crash.
Gignac told police she didn’t stop because she was afraid of what she would see. When she drove home that evening, she woke a friend and said she’d hit someone with his van. That friend, Glen Vaccaro, later relayed that conversation to sheriff’s deputies. She was arrested by Sanford Police at a friend’s home July 11.
The Morin family said Alan Morin’s death had a profound effect.
A husband and father of two teen boys, Morin was a Little League coach and was the President of the Bonny Eagle Babe Ruth league. He worked in the Materials Management Department at Mercy Hospital.
Co-worker Glenn Ekholm said the two were like brothers. He recalled rushing to the hospital when he was told Morin had been in a crash.
“He was on machines, and when I held his hand, it was cold,” he said, his voice choking with emotion. “This was no accident. This woman killed Alan because she made a choice that day.”
Ekholm asked why Gignac, who has a lengthy driving record, was allowed to have a license.
“The sign says Maine has a tough drunk driving law. No, it doesn’t,” he said.
Several family members and friends spoke at the hearing and 19 submitted letters to the judge.
His brother-in-law, David Webb, said Morin came to live with him when he was a boy after his mother died and he served in the role of Dad.
“It seems like this young lady has made bad decisions all of her life. To hit Alan and leave him on the side of the road was another bad decision,” said Webb.
Julie Morin said she and Alan had been married 21 years and that their two sons, Adam and Nathan, are still coping with the loss of their father. She said Morin was a romantic who would call her every day when he was starting home from work.
“I love him and miss him and my life has been forever changed,” she said.
As for Gignac, Morin said she hoped she’d turn her life around.
“It seems to me her friends and family have been enabling her for a long time,” she said.
Gignac’s record includes seven suspensions, three convictions of operating while suspended, driving to endanger and driving while an habitual offender. She had been arrested in May 2008 on a drunk driving charge but she requested a hearing, which stayed an automatic suspension. Five days before the hearing, she struck the motorcycle and Morin died.
A month before the crash, Gignac was charged with theft and bail violations in connection with a theft of beer from a Sanford convenience store. Three days later, she was charged with threatening her former boyfriend with a knife.
Vincent, her attorney, said his client has been diagnosed as bipolar.
“I believe she can be rehabilitated,” he said. “I believe she is remorseful.”
— Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 or at twells@journaltribune.com.
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