A man who drunkenly drove his high-speed powerboat over a smaller boat in a nighttime crash that killed two people was sent to prison Wednesday for 3 1/2 years.
The judge sentenced Robert LaPointe of Medway, Massachusetts, to the maximum five-year term on two counts of aggravated operating under the influence, but the rest of the sentence was suspended.
At the trial in September, a jury deadlocked on the more serious charges of manslaughter; prosecutors say they will not retry him on those counts.
Prosecutors said LaPointe's 32-foot boat, "No Patience," was going 45 mph or faster when it ran over the 14-foot boat and its two occupants during a moonless night on western Maine's Long Lake in August 2007.
Prosecutors told jurors LaPointe had been drinking all day and was operating his boat recklessly.
Terry Raye Trott, 55, of Harrison, and Suzanne Groetzinger, 44, of Berwick, were killed in the collision.
LaPointe and his passenger survived being thrown from their boat, which sped ashore before stopping more than 100 feet in the woods.
A blood sample taken three hours after the crash indicated his blood-alcohol content was 0.11 percent, higher than the limit of 0.08 percent for operating a boat in Maine.
LaPointe testified he drank only three beers that day and was operating his boat prudently.
He maintained that he didn't see the smaller boat because its lights weren't operating.
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