AUBURN — A New Gloucester man has pleaded guilty to manslaughter stemming from a crash that killed a motorcyclist on Court Street in Auburn in 2017.
Steven Primavera, left, listens to his attorney, James Howaniec, during a June 2019 hearing in Androscoggin County Superior Court in Auburn on motions in his 2017 manslaughter case. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal file photo
Justice MaryGay Kennedy sentenced Steven Primavera, 36, of 357 Bennett Road on Wednesday in Androscoggin County Superior Court to six years in prison for manslaughter in the death of Reginal Clement, 54, of Starks, on Sept. 22, 2017.
The Class A felony is punishable by up to 30 years in prison.
The judge suspended three years of Primavera’s sentence, effectively cutting the time he’ll serve by half. When he’s released from prison, Primavera will be on probation for three years.
Primavera also pleaded guilty to charges of felony drug trafficking and possession and was sentenced to three years in prison. He will serve that sentence at the same time as the manslaughter sentence. The drug charges stem from sales of fentanyl in January in which he had his father making deliveries. Primavera was awaiting trial for manslaugther at the time.
During probation, Primavera is barred from having alcohol, marijuana and illegal drugs for which he can be searched and tested at random.
He’s also barred from having contact with Clement’s wife, Kathryn, and other family members.
Primavera’s car crossed the centerline and veered into the path of Clement’s 2013 Harley-Davidson before slamming into a tree, according to police. Kathryn had been following her husband on her motorcycle.
Drugs detected in Primavera’s system from blood analysis included methadone and Xanax, both prescription drugs, police said. Primavera had said he’d gone to a methadone clinic at 7 a.m. that day. The crash occurred at 5:52 p.m.
Police said messages on Primavera’s cellphone showed no activity from 1:25 a.m. until 5:55 p.m. on that day, when he wrote to his girlfriend that he “hit a motorcycle head-on.”
He also texted his girlfriend that police were going to draw his blood, “so I might go to jail.”
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
