Massachusetts teenager guilty in texting-while-driving fatal crash gets year in jail
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A Massachusetts teenager who became the first person in the state convicted of causing a traffic death while texting has been sentenced to a year in jail.
Aaron Deveau of Haverhill was sentenced Wednesday to 2 1/2 years behind bars with a year to serve and the remainder suspended and lost his license for 15 years.
A jury earlier Wednesday convicted the 18-year-old Deveau of motor vehicle homicide and negligent operation while texting.
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Deveau testified in his own defense Tuesday and said he was not sending or receiving text messages in the moments before the head-on collision in February 2011.
Police say the then 17-year-old Deveau crossed the center line and collided with a car driven by 55-year-old Donald Bowley Jr. of Danville, N.H.
Prosecutors say Bowley died 18 days later of injuries suffered in the crash.