Man pleads guilty in fatal crash Charleston resident may serve 3 years for causing death of woman, 27

BANGOR – A Charleston man pleaded guilty Wednesday to manslaughter in the death of a 27-year-old woman in a car accident this past summer.

Peter Wilcox, 28, also pleaded guilty in Penobscot County Superior Court to criminal operating under the influence of intoxicants. The charge stemmed from a wreck that killed Jennifer Conway of Charleston.

In a plea agreement with prosecutors, a sentence of 10 years with all but three years suspended and six years’ probation will be recommended on the manslaughter charge, Assistant District Attorney Patrick Larson told Superior Court Justice Nancy Mills.

The recommended sentence on the drunken driving charge will be one year in prison, to be served concurrently with the manslaughter sentence, a $2,000 fine and six years’ suspension of his driver’s license.

A sentencing date will be scheduled after Feb. 14, Mills ruled Wednesday.

Dressed in jeans and a plaid shirt, Wilcox showed no emotion as he entered his guilty pleas. He did not make a statement, but attorney Walter McKee of Augusta spoke on his behalf.

“My client feels tremendous remorse and sorrow for what happened,” McKee said.

Few defendants enter guilty pleas at their arraignments, McKee pointed out after the hearing. He said that Wilcox wanted to take responsibility for the accident as soon as possible.

The defendant’s family attended the hearing, but the victim’s family did not. Larson said Wednesday that they intend to speak next year at Wilcox’s sentencing.

Conway and Dana McQuesten, 27, of Charleston were passengers July 24 in a car Wilcox was driving. The three left a party in Charleston about 1:30 a.m., headed for Dysart’s Truck Stop & Restaurant in Hermon, according to Larson.

Conway sat on McQuesten’s lap in the front passenger seat of the 1988 Volvo station wagon because stereo equipment was in the backseat.

Wilcox turned off Route 15 onto the Kenduskeag Road and headed toward Levant, Larson said Wednesday. Another group of people following Wilcox could not keep up with him and took Route 15 into Bangor, then took Interstate 95 south to Dysart’s on the Coldbrook Road.

At a sharp curve, known locally as “dead man’s curve,” Wilcox lost control of the vehicle and sideswiped a tree. He stopped the car about a mile down the road when he had a flat tire, Larson said. That was when he noticed the passengers were unconscious and he left the vehicle to try to rouse homeowners in the area.

A man driving home from work about 2:40 a.m. found the vehicle and called for help. Conway was taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, where she died July 29. McQuesten was treated at the scene for minor bruises, according to Larson. Wilcox was not injured seriously.

His blood alcohol level was 0.14 percent about two hours after the accident occurred. The legal limit for intoxication is 0.08 percent.

Wilcox was indicted earlier this month on two additional charges: aggravated assault and reckless conduct. Prosecutors said Wednesday that those charges would be dropped at Wilcox’s sentencing.