The truck driver whose long record of poor driving preceded a fatal crash will serve a year in prison.

On Friday, Feb. 16, Scott Hewitt was given a 10-year prison sentence for manslaughter, with all but 30 months suspended in Kennebec County, ME, Superior Court.

Hewitt will be given credit for the 18 months he's already been jailed, and will serve the remaining 12 months. Hewitt also faces a four-year probation from driving any motor vehicle, and from using drugs or alcohol.

Hewitt's truck crashed into Tina Turcotte's car on the Maine Turnpike on July 29, 2005, causing the 40-year-old Turcotte to suffer serious injuries, which she died from days later.

Hewitt's driving record included 63 convictions, and his driver's license had been suspended 23 times. He was involved in a different traffic fatality in 1994 and was caught by authorities one week after his crash with Turcotte while driving on a suspended license.

The fatal wreck spurred Maine legislators to enact "Tina's Law," which steps up penalties for drivers that ignore license requirements.

Hewitt said in court that he tried to call the hospital the day after the crash to check on Turcotte's condition.

Hewitt admitted smoking marijuana every day but originally claimed he hadn't on the day of the wreck. He blamed his clouded judgment on the day of the wreck on two painkiller pills he'd taken that day.

Drug tests revealed that he was under the influence of marijuana at the time of the crash and investigators found marijuana in his truck.

According to media reports, prosecutors said they are likely to pursue a lifetime revocation of Hewitt's driver's license. Kennebec County District Attorney Evert Fowle didn't return Land Line's phone calls asking whether he sought Hewitt's commercial driver's license or automobile driver's license.

- By Charlie Morasch, staff writer
charlie_morasch@landlinemag.com