ELLSWORTH (AP) – A 28-year-old Lamoine man was sentenced to six years in prison for driving drunk and causing an automobile crash that killed a 19-year-old Mount Desert woman and left his best friend brain damaged.

Sean M. George pleaded guilty on Friday in Hancock County Superior Court to manslaughter, aggravated assault and aggravated operating a motor vehicle while under the influence in connection with the April 2, 2004, crash in Dedham.

George said he had been at bars in Bangor with Joel Fougere before driving his pickup truck home. When he reached a passing lane on Route 1A, he passed the vehicle in front of him, crossed the centerline and hit an oncoming car.

Bethany Edmondson, who was a passenger in the oncoming car, was killed instantly. Her boyfriend, Steven Roberson of Orrington, broke his pelvis and was left trapped in the burning vehicle before being pulled to safety by passers-by.

Fougere was thrown from the truck and suffered permanent brain injury.

George’s blood alcohol level at the time was 0.12 percent, Hancock County Deputy District Attorney Carletta Bassano said. Maine’s legal limit is 0.08 percent.

George apologized in court to the victim’s family.

“I understand what it is to lose someone you love,” he said. “I’m sorry I’ve taken Bethany from you. I was stupid, ignorant and arrogant.”

George’s mother, friends and neighbors wept, held hands and asked the judge for leniency for him, whom they characterized as “solid,” “peaceful” and “giving.”

His attorney, Robert Granger, said George has kept a picture of Edmondson since the crash and has spoken regularly to sororities and other groups at the University of Maine. He is “trying to make something good of something absolutely tragic,” Granger said.

Justice Jeffrey L. Hjelm ordered George to serve six years of a 12-year prison sentence. He also ordered him to pay a $2,000 fine, $15,925 in restitution to the victims and their family members and to perform 300 hours of community service.

Hjelm called George “a fundamentally decent person” who will “bear the emotional scars of his conduct.”

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Information from: Bangor Daily News, http://www.bangornews.com

AP-ES-04-23-05 1417EDT