A bill that toughens the penalties for drivers who get behind the wheel after their license has been suspended – like the one who killed Tina Turcotte of Scarborough last summer – was signed into law on Friday.
The bill was sponsored by Rep. Darlene Curley, R-Scarborough, and Sen. William Diamond, D-Cumberland County.
Curley made a last-minute effort to make the law even tougher through an amendment she offered on the House floor last week. It would have set a minimum 5-year prison sentence for any person who causes the death of another person while knowingly operating with a suspended or revoked license.
While Curley’s amendment failed, the bill passed 143 to 0 in the House.
“This bill can do nothing to take away the grief of the family,” Curley said, but it could prevent a similar tragedy from happening again.
A push to toughen the law for suspended drivers began after Turcotte was killed in an accident involving a trucker, Scott Hewitt of Caribou, who was driving with a suspended license.
Hewitt was on his 23rd license suspension and had 63 motor vehicle convictions on his record when his truck hit Turcotte’s car on I-95 in Hallowell. Turcotte died after two days in hospital.
Diamond, a former Secretary of State and now chairman of the Legislature’s Criminal Justice Committee, vowed to make Hewitt the “poster boy” for suspended drivers to toughen the law.
The new law cracks down hardest on habitual offenders, who have been convicted three times in five years for serious motor vehicle violations. If caught driving after their license has been suspended or revoked, they would face fines of at least $500 and 30 days in jail.
Habitual offenders who lose their license and commit serious offenses while behind the wheel – like driving drunk – face even stiffer penalties, ranging from a $500 fine and six months in jail to a $3,000 fine and five years behind bars.
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