BANGOR – A Charleston man was sentenced Tuesday in Penobscot County Superior Court to 10 years in prison, with all but two suspended, in the death of a 27-year-old woman in a car accident last summer.

Peter Wilcox, 28, also was sentenced to six years of probation, ordered to pay a $2,000 fine and $4,500 in restitution, perform 600 hours of community service while on probation, and have his driver’s license suspended for six years.

He faced a maximum of 40 years in prison and a fine of up to $50,000.

Wilcox, the father of four young children, broke down sobbing as he apologized for the July 24 car accident that killed Jennifer Colbath Conway of Charleston.

“I’m sorry for the loss I caused Jennifer’s family, especially her daughter,” he said. “I can’t imagine what it would be like if one of my children lost their mother. I understand if Jennifer’s family hates me. I pray they’ll someday be able to forgive me. I wish our families had met under different circumstances.”

In handing down his sentence, Maine Superior Court Justice Nancy Mills told Wilcox that some of his community service should be spent speaking to high school and middle school students about the dangers of drunken driving.

“If we could stop this from happening again,” she told the victim’s family and friends, “we’d be doing more to honor the memory of your daughter and friend, than having him sitting down in Windham [at the Maine State Correctional Center] for another year.”

Penobscot County Assistant District Attorney Patrick Larson recommended Tuesday that Wilcox serve three years of his 10-year sentence, while defense attorney Walter McKee of Augusta urged the justice to sentence his client to 18 months in prison.

Members of Wilcox’s family tearfully urged the judge to keep the sentence short so he could return home to his wife and children as quickly as possible.

Colbath Conway’s family asked that his sentence be longer.

Wilcox was indicted in December by the Penobscot County grand jury for manslaughter and operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicants. He pleaded guilty to the charges later that month at his arraignment.

Mills said Tuesday that by pleading guilty so early in the legal process, Wilcox had taken responsibility for his actions.

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

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

Wilcox turned off Route 15 onto Kenduskeag Road and headed toward Levant. 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 has said. That was when he noticed the passengers were unconscious and he left the vehicle to get help.

No one in the car was wearing a seat belt.

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 where she died on July 29. McQuesten was treated at the scene for minor bruises.

Two hours after the crash, Wilcox’s blood alcohol level was .14, almost twice the legal limit of .08.