FARMINGTON — A Livermore Falls woman convicted of manslaughter in a 2022 head-on crash that claimed the life of a Livermore woman in North Jay will serve nearly four years in prison.

Trisha Payeur Franklin County Detention Center photo

Trisha G. Payeur, 43, was sentenced Wednesday in Farmington District Court to 12 years, of which all but three years and eight months were suspended.

When she is released from prison, Payeur will be on probation for four years.

Active-Retired Justice Nancy Mills approved a sentencing agreement Wednesday that paved the way earlier this month to Payeur’s admission of guilt through a so-called Alford plea, which enabled her to enter a guilty plea while maintaining her innocence.

She had also pleaded guilty to reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon and unlawful possession of scheduled drugs, namely cocaine, also by Alford pleas.

The July 20, 2022, crash on state Route 4 in North Jay village killed 69-year-old Gaylene Rich, who was driving southbound when Payeur’s vehicle crossed the centerline into Rich’s path.

Rich’s husband, Alan, was in the courtroom Wednesday during Payeur’s sentencing.

“I lost the most important person in my life,” he said, calling Payeur thoughtless and clueless in her actions.

He and his wife started dating 40 years ago.

“We bought a house together. We planned the future. We wanted to retire together. And we did. Very briefly, though,” he said.

“We worked hard for our hopes and dreams. We were a very loving team. All ripped away, all ripped away — in a second,” he said.

“Gaylene was my guardian angel. She was also my rock. She was my encouragement. I loved her more than my life. I got up every day and I just wanted to know what I could do to make her life better,” he said.

“We were robbed of each other’s love and support because of the selfish act of Tricia Payeur,” he said.

Rich said he has “felt helpless” since the day of the crash.

“My whole world was suddenly turned upside down — in a flash,” he said.

His wife was, “an angel on Earth,” he said.

April Golden said Wednesday that she had been driving a vehicle behind her mother-in-law, Gaylene Rich, when the crash occurred.

“I cried myself to sleep that night,” Golden said. “And for months after the car accident, when I closed my eyes, I saw the accident play over and over in my head, causing many sleepless nights.”

Her doctor put her on a sleep medication and she spent months in grief counseling.

She wasn’t able to drive where the crash had happened, she said, requiring her husband to drive her the first time.

“I held his hand tightly and my heart felt like it was going to be out of my chest and I couldn’t breathe. I was crying. I was crying and having a panic attack,” she said.

Gaylene Rich was more like a mother to her than her own mother, Golden said.

“I miss conversations with her. I miss her hugs. I miss her voice. I miss her smile and her laugh,” Golden said.

“Driving is still difficult for me as I fear the oncoming cars in the opposite direction and thinking they may potentially cross over the yellow line and get me into a head-on collision,” she said.

Golden read a statement written by her husband, Christopher, Rich’s son.

The day of the crash, his “life completely changed forever,” he wrote.

“I cried for several months after mom’s death,” he wrote. “Still, when I hear a song, I smell a smell, I think of her and how I was robbed of several more years of being able to talk with my mom, and that makes me tearful.”

He urged the judge to incarcerate Payeur “for a long time.” He wrote that she, “needs to be held accountable for the actions that took my mom’s life.”

On the charge of reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon, Payeur was sentenced to one year, to be served concurrently with the manslaughter sentence.

Also to be served at that time is a 364-day sentence for unlawful possession of scheduled drugs.

She also received a six-month concurrent sentence for a violation of condition of release stemming from her arrest earlier this month when she tested positive for drugs, including cocaine.

Payeur appeared in court Wednesday in an orange jail suit, accompanied by a Franklin County deputy.

Of the eight-count indictment in November 2023, two counts of reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon and three counts of driving to endanger were dismissed in the plea agreement.

While on probation, Payeur will be barred from having any alcohol and illegal drugs, as well as marijuana, subject to random search and testing.

She must undergo substance abuse evaluation, treatment and counseling as directed by her probation officer.

Payeur may not drive any motor vehicle, all-terrain vehicle or snowmobile without a valid license and she may not have any contact with Rich’s three family members who gave victim impact statements Wednesday.

She also agreed to write a letter of apology to Rich’s family.

A Maine State Police reconstruction report said Payeur’s vehicle was traveling at 63 mph a half-second before the crash and, based on reconstruction calculations, Rich’s vehicle had been traveling at 30.3 mph when the two vehicles collided.

Medical tests showed that Payeur had cocaine in her system, and there was a vial of cocaine found in her vehicle, according to prosecutors.