Man convicted in EW crash
By:Jennifer Hoyt, Journal Inquirer
06/22/2006
A man who caused a car accident that killed his friend in East Windsor in May 2005 was convicted Wednesday in Enfield Superior Court on charges stemming from the accident.
The man, David Graham, 23, pleaded no contest to misconduct with a motor vehicle and two counts of second-degree assault. Graham had lived on Rye Street in East Windsor when the accident occurred, police have said.
A passenger in Graham's vehicle, Matthew Daigle, 18, of 23 Broadview Lane, East Windsor, was killed in the car accident, which occurred on Newberry Road on May 12, 2005.
The original charges against Graham had been first-degree manslaughter, two counts of first-degree assault, and one count of reckless driving, but those charges were reduced.
Graham is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 9.
The charges Graham was convicted of carry a 15-year prison sentence. But under a plea agreement, Graham's prison sentence will be suspended after two years, with five years of probation to follow.
The accident occurred when Graham was speeding in his Pontiac Grand-Am westbound on Newberry Road in East Windsor.
Daigle, and his younger brother, Andrew Daigle, who is now 18, were the only other passengers in the vehicle.
At what Judge Howard Scheinblum called a "grossly excessive rate of speed," Graham lost control of his car, crossed the road's double yellow lines, and collided head-on with a Toyota Corolla operated by East Windsor resident Patricia Harlan, who is now 61.
After hitting Harlan's car, Graham's vehicle struck two trees on the south side of Newberry Road, according to the affidavit supporting Graham's arrest.
Matthew Daigle, who was just one month short of graduating high school, died of multiple traumatic injuries, the affidavit says.
Andrew Daigle survived, but suffered multiple head trauma and a broken hip, the affidavit says.
©Journal Inquirer 2006
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