7 1/2 Years for Manslaughter
A Rancho Palos Verdes couple urged a Maine judge to give a 10-year prison sentence to the motorist who pleaded guilty to killing their daughter while drunk in Orono, Me., on Feb. 18.
Citing the contributions that the woman, Linda Lancaster, 37, made as an alcohol counselor for 15 years in the federal prison system, Superior Court Judge Jack O. Smith sentenced Peter Gagnon to 7 1/2 years in prison with an additional 2 1/2-year suspended sentence.
Smith said he had received a flood of letters from Lancaster’s friends saying she had made a significant contribution to society. Speaking for the maximum sentence were Lancaster’s parents, Russell and Eleanor Nicholson, who live in Rancho Palos Verdes.
Lancaster was attending a graduate program in education studies at the University of Maine in Orono near Bangor when she was struck and killed by Gagnon, 30, of Mattawamkeag.
Tests showed that Gagnon, who pleaded guilty to charges of manslaughter and aggravated operating under the influence, had a blood alcohol level of .22%--nearly three times the legal limit in Maine. The prosecution said Gagnon had been driving at 52 m.p.h. in a 35-m.p.h. zone when the accident occurred.
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