WEST PARIS — The father of a West Paris teenager killed in a vehicle accident two years ago expressed his extreme frustration in setting a sentencing date for the driver, Kristina Lowe, convicted of two counts of manslaughter.
Jerrold Mason, father of 16-year-old Rebecca Mason, who was killed in a high-speed crash in West Paris in 2012, said Thursday that he’s frustrated with what he called the court “dragging” in scheduling a sentencing date.
“It’s not fair to me or my wife,” he said, to have the verdict settled but sentencing remaining open for so long.
Also killed in that crash was 19-year-old Logan Dam of West Paris.
Mason said he expected sentencing within two weeks of the verdict.
Lowe was charged with five felony counts in the fatal accident of Jan. 7, 2012, on Route 219 in West Paris: two counts of vehicular manslaughter, two counts of aggravated criminal operating under the influence and one count of leaving the scene of a fatal accident.
She faces up to 30 years each on the manslaughter charges and another five years for leaving the scene of a fatal accident.
A clerk at Oxford County Superior Court confirmed Thursday that sentencing likely wouldn’t be set until July, at the earliest.
Clerks are compiling a trial transcript in response to a June 4 motion from Lowe’s defense attorney, James Howaniec, calling for a new trial.
In his appeal for a new trial, Howaniec argued that the state had not adequately proven the manslaughter charges and bringing in Lowe’s father, Earl Lowe, to testify had an “inflammatory” impact on the jury.
The transcripts are not expected to be completed before an informal meeting next Friday, when attorneys from both sides are expected to confer over details of the motions, the clerk said.
Mason said he attended the June 7 graduation at Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School for the Class of 2014 because his daughter had been a member of that class and he wanted to see her friends graduate.
It was emotional for him to sit through, he said, but he felt an obligation to attend.
After the crash that killed his daughter, Mason became an activist against distracted driving and helped push through a state law that prohibits distracted driving, including texting while driving.
Witnesses at Lowe’s trial testified she told them after the crash that she had been texting while driving and lost control of the car.
Mason said the Legislature took the accident that killed his daughter seriously and he now wants the court to take Lowe’s conviction as seriously, and “set an example” to ensure sentencing as quickly as possible.
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