FARMINGTON – A Livermore Falls woman was sentenced to serve three months of a two-year sentence in jail Friday for leaving the scene of an accident that left a 13-year-old girl with serious injuries last year.
Katy LaPlante, 21, of Livermore Falls pleaded guilty two weeks ago to leaving the scene of an accident, assault and driving to endanger. She also started serving time in jail even though she hadn’t been sentenced yet.
Justice Joseph Jabar also sentenced LaPlante on Friday to two years probation, in which LaPlante cannot drive a vehicle nor can she drink liquor or do drugs.
Jabar also ordered LaPlante to do 50 hours of community service in schools talking about what happens to people who take the chance to operate a vehicle after drinking alcohol.
Jabar also sentenced LaPlante to three months for the charges of assault and driving to endanger to run concurrent with the initial sentence.
LaPlante was driving on Main Street in East Wilton last August when she struck bicyclist Sarah Deveau of East Wilton with her car, then panicked and left the scene. Police located LaPlante several miles away about 15 minutes later.
Deveau was thrown onto LaPlante’s car smashing the windshield and then thrown more than 20 feet onto the ground.
State prosecutors asked for two years with all but nine months suspended while LaPlante’s attorney, David Sanders, asked for time served of 14 days.
Jabar said prior to sentencing Friday that this was one of those difficult cases where good people have a lapse in judgment and find themselves in difficult situations after causing serious injury to someone else.
He said LaPlante is a first offender and has taken responsibility for her actions, but there are consequences for her actions and she has to pay for that.
Alcohol was involved but did not reach the limit to be considered operating under the influence but it may have been a distraction, Jabar said.
LaPlante had a .04 percent blood alcohol level about 90 minutes after the accident.
People have to realize that if they’re going to drink alcohol and drive and something happens, they’re going to receive consequences, Jabar said.
No matter what sentence he imposed, Jabar said, it will not change what the victim has gone through and will not put her back to the way she was before the accident.
Deveau, now 14, said during a break in the hearing that she is still trying to get over the accident.
Among the injuries she received was a severed patella tendon on her right leg and her knee cut to the bone. She has undergone physical therapy and is still going to a doctor for her back and neck, she said.
She missed out on her fall sport but is able to play basketball but not without pain, she said.
“I’m still not recovered physically or mentally,” she said.
Sanders said after the hearing that his client apologized to the court and the girl for hurting her.
He described LaPlante as a good kid who was willing to take whatever the state offered with no negotiation, he said.
She started her jail sentence two weeks ago, he said, even though she didn’t know if the judge was going to impose jail time.
“She wanted to acknowledge what she had done,” Sanders said.
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