AUBURN — A Rumford man was sentenced to more than three years in prison Friday after he admitted to manslaughter stemming from a 2023 crash in Livermore that killed a Pennsylvania woman.
Kevin Gauthier, 31, of Rumford is led away in handcuffs Friday by a judicial marshal in Androscoggin County Superior Court in Auburn. He was sentenced for manslaughter stemming from a 2023 crash in Livermore. Christopher Williams/Sun Journal
Kevin Gauthier, 31, pleaded guilty in Androscoggin County Superior Court to manslaughter and aggravated criminal operating under the influence of alcohol.
Active retired Justice Nancy Mills sentenced Gauthier to 14 years in prison for manslaughter, but suspended all of that time except for 3 1/2 years.
Manslaughter is punishable by up to 30 years in prison.
Mills imposed the same unsuspended term of imprisonment for the drunken-driving offense to be served at the same time as the manslaughter sentence. The maximum penalty for that crime is 10 years in prison.
He was fined $2,100.
After his release from prison, Gauthier will be on probation for four years, during which time he must undergo substance abuse counseling and not have any alcohol or illegal drugs for which he can be searched at random. He must not have any contact with family members of the victim. And he may not drive a vehicle.
Gauthier was indicted by an Androscoggin County grand jury in August 2023 with four crimes in connection with the crash. Two of those lesser charges were dismissed Friday.
Investigators said Gauthier was driving a 2022 Subaru that crossed the centerline on state Route 108 in the early morning of April 16, 2023, and struck a 2020 Mitsubishi SUV driven by Sheila Brown, 63, of East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.
Gauthier was transported to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston with non-life-threatening injuries.
Assistant District Attorney Patricia Mador said Friday that Gauthier’s blood/alcohol content from a sample was .15 grams or nearly twice the legal limit for drunken driving.
Mador said crash scene reconstruction experts estimated that Gauthier’s car had been traveling at more than 78 mph 1 1/2 seconds before the crash in the posted 50 mph zone.
The speed of the victim’s car had been 43 mph just before impact, Mador said.
At the moment of impact, the car Gauthier was driving had been on the fog line on the wrong side of the road, Mador said.
A medical examiner for the state concluded Brown died from blunt force trauma caused by the crash, Mador said.
Gauthier had later told police he had been in Auburn drinking for about four hours the night before the crash.
He said he had swerved to avoid an unknown object in the roadway and when he looked up, “it was too late,” Mador said.
The crash expert said there was evidence Gauthier had turned his steering wheel sharply to the right moments before the crash.
A friend with whom Gauthier had been drinking the night before had suggested Gauthier not drive the morning of the crash, Mador said.
Gauthier’s license was suspended for 10 years. Prosecutors filed paperwork for his license to be revoked permanently.
“I’ve concluded after my participation in a judicial settlement conference that Mr. Gauthier has shown sincere remorse,” Justice Mills said before imposing sentence. “I find that it bodes well for his future upon release” from prison.
He was led from the courtroom in handcuffs.
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