At an emotional hearing in Lincoln County Superior Court on Jan. 28, Roxann Berry, the woman accused of contributing to the death of Loren St. Cyr, was sentenced to 18 months confinement with all but 120 days suspended.
Berry, 23, of Windsor, pleaded no contest to a charge of leaving the scene of an accident that caused serious bodily injury. She was ordered to report to authorities to begin serving her sentence Jan. 31 at 9 a.m.
Berry was arrested in June 2010 following a lengthy investigation into St. Cyr’s death. St. Cyr, 20 at the time of his death, of Newcastle, died after he was struck by two cars while he walking along North Clary Hill Road in Jefferson shortly before midnight Sept. 20, 2008.
Physical and forensic evidence found at the scene, as summarized by Justice Ann Murry at Berry’s sentencing, indicated that St. Cyr was struck by two cars in close succession. When confronted by detectives last June – almost two years after the accident – Berry admitted to being the driver of the first vehicle that struck St. Cyr, and to leaving the scene after she hit him.
There is no evidence to indicate that Berry was intoxicated or that speed or reckless driving contributed to the accident. The location of the accident suggests that Berry “crested a hill and [St. Cyr] was right there,” Murry said.
The operator of the second vehicle immediately stopped, remained at the scene and alerted authorities as required by law. He was not charged with a crime.
For almost two years, Berry did not report the accident. During that time, police investigated many of St. Cyr’s friends for possible involvement in his death. The ordeal was highly publicized. St. Cyr’s brother, Shawn St. Cyr, said he hoped the publicity would elicit a response from the then-unknown driver.
“Had she come forward, I would not have thought prison was necessary,” Shawn St. Cyr said at the hearing. However, according to St. Cyr family members, because of the two years of suffering they endured waiting for answers and watching people close to them be accused, they called for Berry to serve a two-year sentence.
At the sentencing, Berry said she was sorry her decision to keep quiet caused the St. Cyr’s extra pain and suffering “from an already tragic scenario.” Berry said that at the time, she felt remorse and regret and that “I am filled with both today and will be for the rest of my life.”
“I would never intentionally hurt someone; all I ever wanted was to help people,” said Berry, a single mother who was taking classes at the University of Maine Augusta toward a degree in social work. “I never thought I would be a felon, I never thought I would go to jail, and I never thought I would have to leave my own son behind.”
Berry has no prior criminal record – “not even a speeding ticket,” said her lawyer, Philip Cohen. “My client doesn’t drink – at all,” Cohen told the court. “This is the only time you’re going to see her.”
During her explanation of the sentence, Murry expressed qualified sympathy for Berry: “It’s inexcusable to leave the scene of an accident – period,” Murry said. “Had you only acted with the character that comes through” in letters sent to the court and testimonies heard at the trial on her behalf, “we wouldn’t be here today.”
In letters and testimonies given at the sentencing, several members of St. Cyr’s family made comments acknowledging Loren St. Cyr “put himself in a position” to be hit that night by being intoxicated and alone on a dark road.
“It’s no one’s fault but his own,” Shawn St. Cyr said, “but the audacity to just drive away is unfathomable.”
In an interview on Feb. 1, Shawn St. Cyr said he would have talked more about Loren St. Cyr’s character at the sentencing if he had known that personality was going to be taken into account.
“I would have talked about what a great uncle he was and how he was doing well to support himself,” Shawn St. Cyr said. “I didn’t think that’s what a sentencing was for. You’re not being punished for who you are; you’re being punished for what you did.”
St. Cyr’s family questioned whether he would be alive today if Berry had stopped – a position that is not supported by the available evidence regarding the amount of time between when the two cars hit him, Murry said.
“Maybe just the brake lights would have slowed him down,” Shawn St. Cyr said on Feb. 1.
In a letter read during the sentencing, St. Cyr’s father wrote that Loren “put the events of that night into motion,” but, he went on to write, Berry “seems not to care” and “apparently would never have come forward to stop the emotional bleeding of [St. Cyr’s] family and friends.”
Although it does nothing to explain the decision she made over the ensuing months to remain silent about that night, Cohen said Berry’s failure to stop was not malicious or driven by a desire to hide anything. “She’s young, she was alone, it was midnight, she had just hit someone: she was scared,” Cohen said.
Berry’s pastor, Albert York, described her as a “fine young lady” and sought to explain what might have caused her silence. “For many of us, there are things we choose to try to forget because we don’t know how to deal with them,” York said.
