AUGUSTA – A man who was sentenced last week to four years in prison for killing his sister and her boyfriend in a drunken-driving crash was behind bars early Saturday, after the district attorney’s office learned he had allegedly violated his bail conditions by using bath salts.

The district attorney’s office requested a warrant for Travis Lawler’s arrest Friday, after Fairfield police responded to calls about Lawler, 23, exhibiting erratic behavior, according to Maeghan Maloney, district attorney for Kennebec and Somerset counties.

“We had information that he violated his bail through using bath salts, so we lifted the stay,” Maloney said Saturday afternoon by telephone.

The district attorney’s office will ask a Kennebec County Superior Court judge on Monday to have Lawler begin his four-year sentence immediately, she said.

“When someone violates bail and he’s looking at a long jail sentence, we don’t want to take a chance again,” she said.

Fairfield police Officer Thomas Rowe said Saturday afternoon that police responded to a medical-related call regarding Lawler on Thursday. Lawler was transported to a hospital on Thursday, Rowe said, without naming the hospital. He gave no further details.

Maloney said Lawler was arrested for allegedly violating his bail conditions at 11:50 p.m. Friday and brought to the Kennebec County jail. She said she did not know which department arrested Lawler or the circumstances of the arrest.

Maloney said she would know more details Monday, after receiving an arrest report.

A judge sentenced Lawler on July 29 to nine years in prison, with all but four years suspended, and four years of probation, on two counts each of manslaughter and aggravated criminal operating under the influence and one count of violating conditions of release.

Lawler’s attorney had asked July 29 for a stay of the sentence until 9 a.m. Sept. 6.

“My client has a number of things that need to be done,” Scott Gurney told the judge.

The prosecutor did not object to the delay.

Lawler was on leave from the U.S. Marine Corps Camp Lejeune in North Carolina when the car he was driving went off Horse Point Road in North Belgrade and struck a tree on June 16, 2012.

His sister, Kristin Lawler, 20, of Oakland, was pronounced dead at the scene. Her boyfriend, Jackson Bolduc, 25, of Belgrade, died of his injuries the next day.

A third passenger, Dylan Desroches, then 20, of Waterville, suffered serious injuries.

Lawler ran from the crash on foot and was found about a half-mile away on the shore of Great Pond.

Maine State Police recorded Lawler’s blood alcohol content at 0.12. The legal limit for adults in Maine is 0.08.

Lawler wore his full dress uniform at the hearing July 29, even though his lawyer said he was discharged months ago.

“I’m wearing this uniform because it’s all I have in my life,” Lawler told the judge. He said he always wanted to protect and to save people, and that the crash was the worst night of his life.

Kennebec Journal Staff Writer Betty Adams contributed to this report.

Paul Koenig can be contacted at 621-5663 or at:

pkoenig@mainetoday.com

 

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