PORTLAND – Experts testified at trial Tuesday that the man killed in a boating accident on Long Lake last year likely violated navigational rules, but had the right of way when his boat was hit.

Two experts in boat crash reconstruction said defendant Robert LaPointe, 39, of Medway, Mass., and Bridgton was to blame for the Aug. 11, 2007 nighttime crash because he was driving his speedboat unsafely.

“Mr. LaPointe was driving too fast at night” and that caused the crash, said Maine Warden Kevin Anderson, who served as an investigator for the state.

Another expert in boating accident reconstruction came to the same conclusion Monday.

Prosecutors began to wrap up their case Tuesday on the seventh day of LaPointe’s trial on two counts of manslaughter in Cumberland County Superior Court. For convictions, they must prove beyond reasonable doubt that LaPointe was reckless or criminally negligent. He also is charged with two counts of aggravated operating under the influence and one count of reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon.

Terry Raye Trott, 55, of Harrison and Suzanne Groetzinger, 44, of Berwick, died at the scene. A medical examiner testified last week that both were severely injured by the propellers on LaPointe’s 32-foot racing boat, equipped with dual 425-horsepower engines.

Defense attorney George Hassett cross-examined both experts Tuesday, seeking to show Trott was partly to blame for the accident. Hassett pointed out that Trott violated navigational rules when he was apparently boating at night with no lights. One of the experts, William Chilcott, said inspection of the filament in the bulb on the light at the back of Trott’s 14-foot motorboat led him to conclude that the stern light wasn’t on at the time of the crash. Neither expert could conclude whether the red and green lights on the bow of the smaller boat were working at that time. The switch for those lights was found on the “On” position.

“He shouldn’t have been out there on the water with no lights on,” Anderson testified.

But even if the bow lights had been on, LaPointe likely wouldn’t have seen them because he struck Trott’s boat from the rear, the experts agreed. They also agreed that Trott had the right of way and LaPointe, occupying the overtaking boat, was required by navigational rules to keep clear of Trott’s boat.

Hassett quizzed the experts about other rules, including those that required both boaters to keep a proper lookout for other vessels or obstructions and to avoid collision whenever possible. Another rule requires boats to have on board an “efficient sound device,” such as a whistle or an air horn. Hassett asked whether Trott’s boat contained such a device.

Anderson said none was found among the debris recovered from the apparent crash sight in the middle of Long Lake. But, Anderson added, that didn’t mean Trott didn’t have one in his boat. It only meant they didn’t find one on the “silty” lake floor 30 feet below the surface, he said.

Under direct questioning by Cumberland County Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Norbert, Anderson said he had no way of knowing whether Trott had sounded a whistle or horn at the time, nor could Anderson tell whether Trott had kept a lookout before LaPointe’s boat struck.

Anderson said each boat’s occupants knew the other boat was on the lake shortly before the crash. According to LaPointe’s passenger, who testified last week, Trott’s boat appeared off the right rear of LaPointe’s boat and continued fast in the same direction LaPointe was to travel soon after. She said she told LaPointe the black and red boat didn’t have its lights on at that time. He repeated her observation, she said.

Experts disagreed narrowly on the estimated speed of LaPointe’s boat at the time of the crash. Chilcott said it likely was traveling 50-65 mph. Anderson said Tuesday it was probably going 40-50 mph. Both said the respective estimated speeds were too fast for the conditions.

Anderson said Tuesday that Trott’s boat likely was going 10-20 mph.

Both experts testified that when LaPointe’s boat struck the rear of Trott’s boat, it vaulted completely over the smaller boat’s length before re-entering the water. That fact, along with the distance LaPointe’s unmanned boat continued after reaching the east shore of the lake, combined with witness statements and black box recorders contained in each engine, helped Anderson estimate the speed of LaPointe’s boat.

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