BANGOR – A Glenburn man convicted of killing a good friend in a car accident and of drunken driving will serve two years in prison.

Tony Moniz, 42, was sentenced by Justice Jeffrey Hjelm on Thursday morning in Penobscot County Superior Court in connection with a May 1, 2004, accident on Route 221 in Hudson.

Jeffrey Melton, 26, of Bradford died of injuries suffered in the accident, in which the 1991 Mercury Cougar that Moniz was driving struck a large tree. Moniz had a blood alcohol level of 0.25, more than three times the legal limit of 0.08. Melton, a friend of Moniz’s, was riding in the passenger seat.

“Mr. Moniz is here today because of a series of decisions he made that resulted in the death of Mr. Melton,” Hjelm noted during the sentence hearing. “Mr. Melton just didn’t have a chance.”

Moniz pleaded guilty to the vehicular manslaughter charge, a Class A felony, and to a charge of operating under the influence of intoxicants, a Class C felony, on Jan. 4. He faced up to 40 years in prison but instead was sentenced to nine years with all but two years suspended followed by four years of probation.

Moniz’s lack of any prior criminal record and the remorse he has expressed since the accident led to a plea agreement between Penobscot County Assistant District Attorney Greg Campbell and Moniz’s attorney, Rick Hartley of Bangor.

“I don’t think it’s possible for anybody to imagine what Tony goes through when he wakes up every morning,” Hartley said in court. “Tony has said to me several times, if only he could change places with Jeffrey Melton.”

Moniz, dressed in a gray sweat shirt and jeans, gave an emotional apology to Melton’s family members who were present in the courtroom. He cried briefly during his statement.

“I thought of him like a son,” he said. “I would do anything to get him back. Anything. I would give my life.”

Melton, who had a 6-year-old daughter, was friends with Moniz and his daughter, Tonya Moniz. His family members declined to make a statement in court.

Tonya Moniz, in her 20s, and Ed McKenna, the defendant’s supervisor at Dead River Oil Co., where Moniz works, appeared in court on his behalf to urge the judge to issue a brief prison sentence.

The prosecutor had asked that Moniz serve a prison sentence of 21/2 years, but Hartley asked that he serve only a six-month sentence.

Tonya Moniz wept as she addressed the judge and described her father as a caring man who would do anything to help others.

“Please don’t let me be without my dad very long,” she begged the judge.

She mentioned that a head injury he received during the car accident has left him with a spotty memory, and in some ways a different person.

“He used to be so happy, so outgoing, so full of life,” she said sadly. “To see him look at me every day and say, ‘Tonya, I know you hate me, I’m so sorry.’ I don’t hate my dad. I know it was an accident.”

McKenna described Moniz as a responsible employee who has been given supervisory duties.

Hjelm said that Melton’s background and character worked in his favor as the justice considered a prison sentence, but that a lighter sentence would send a poor message to the general public.

“The overarching sentencing consideration is that there was a death involved,” the justice said.