Texting Mass. Teen Convicted of Motor Vehicle Homicide

June 06--HAVERHILL -- A district court jury this morning found local teen Aaron Deveau guilty of motor vehicle homicide and texting while operating a motor vehicle negligently and causing injury.

Deveau, 18, of 57 Beach St., second floor, Haverhill, was sentenced to one year in jail and had his license suspended for 15 years.

He was also sentenced to 40 hours of community service. He had faced up to 2 1/2 years in jail on the motor vehicle homicide charge and another 2 years in jail on the texting charge.

During the trial, which started May 29, prosecutors alleged that on Feb. 20 last year Deveau, then 17, was driving on River Street near Cliffe Avenue around 2:30 p.m. when his 2001 Chevy Malibu crossed the center line and plowed head-on into a 1992 Toyota Corolla driven by Donald Bowley Jr., 55, of Danville, N.H.

Bowley died two weeks later at Mass. General Hospital in Boston. His passenger, Luz Selena Roman of Haverhill, suffered severe injuries.

Deveau was the first person in Massachusetts charged with texting while operating a motor vehicle negligently and causing injury.

In her opening remarks to the jury at the start of the trial on May 29, prosecutor Ashlee Logan said Deveau was texting at the time of the accident.

She said Deveau sent or received 193 texts on the day of the crash, including some just moments before the collision. Police said they were notified of the crash by four 911 calls that came in between 2:36 and 2:58 p.m. on Feb. 20, 2011, the day of the accident. The crash is believed to have happened just moments before the first 911 call to police.

Deveau's lawyer Joseph Lussier questioned the allegation that Deveau was texting while driving. Deveau told the jury Tuesday that he was distracted at the time of the crash but that he wasn't texting or using his cell phone.

Copyright 2012 - The Eagle-Tribune, North Andover, Mass.