Kevin T. Scribner, 28, of 378 Plains Road, accepted a plea agreement on a Class C charge of leaving the scene of an accident involving serious bodily injury or death.
Class C crimes carry a penalty of up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
The plea agreement calls for him to serve a two-year jail sentence with all but 90 days suspended, and two years of probation.
Among the conditions of probation would be no use or possession of a cellphone capable of texting, no contact with the victim’s family and participation for two years in 12 presentations to community groups or forums on the consequences of texting while driving.
The state also asked for restitution of $3,000 for funeral expenses and a $1,200 fine, and a 30-day license suspension on his no-contest plea to a civil violation of causing the death of a person while committing a traffic infraction.
Sentencing is set for 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 27.
Lewiston District Court Judge Richard Mulhern said a no-contest plea means the defendant did not admit or deny the charge, but the court could find them guilty.
According to police reports, Brittany Stanhope pulled her 2004 Chrysler Sebring onto the shoulder of the road because of a mechanical problem the night of Sept. 19, 2015. She opened a rear door to get her purse and was standing on the side of the road when she was struck and thrown some distance. She died at the scene.
The police report said Scribner was visiting a friend in Turner and told his parents when he arrived home at 9:35 p.m. — about 45 minutes after the crash — that he was blinded by oncoming headlights during the trip home and thought he hit a deer.
Scribner told police that it was after reading media reports of the fatal accident the next morning that he decided to contact police and tell them that he drove past Stanhope’s car but thought he hit a deer.
However, police wrote in an affidavit that Scribner’s parents were the ones who told their son to call police after seeing media reports about the fatal accident “because it was the right thing to do.”
Scribner later admitted texting on his cellphone before the crash. When police asked to see the texts, Scribner told them he erased his messages that morning because he was having problems with his phone.
Scribner was arrested Sept. 30, hours after police matched Stanhope’s DNA profile to blood found along the side of Scribner’s black 2012 Ford F-250 pickup truck.
The state prosecutor said Thursday that had the case gone to trial, the prosecution would have presented testimony from Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Detective Maurice Drouin’s affidavit, along with testimony from Maya Tripp, Stanhope’s best friend who was in the vehicle at the time she was struck and killed, and Derek Messenger, who was flagged down by Tripp and made the initial phone call to police.
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