During an eight-day trial in Cumberland County Superior Court in Portland, a tragic August night on Long Lake in Harrison last summer was relived.

Ultimately, only partial answers as to Robert LaPointe’s guilt or innocence in the deaths of two others were received Wednesday when the jury of seven women and five men convicted LaPointe of two counts of aggravated operating a watercraft under the influence.

The jury remained deadlocked on two counts of manslaughter and one count of aggravated reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon, leading Justice Robert Crowley to declare a mistrial on those charges.

“We’ve been here three weeks reliving that accident and that night over and over and over,” said Meg Harvey, a close friend of Suzanne Groetzinger.

Groetzinger, with Terry Raye Trott, died when a 32-foot boat, named No Patience, driven by LaPointe sliced through Trott’s 14-foot boat Aug. 11, 2007 just after 9 p.m.

Harvey, who had known Groetzinger since kindergarten and spoke on behalf of her family, said, “This is a verdict, but it’s definitely not the end of our story.”

LaPointe, who faces up to five years in prison for each conviction, will be sentenced on Nov. 12 at 1 p.m. at the Cumberland County Superior Courthouse.

LaPointe could be tried again on the manslaughter and reckless conduct charges, although Cumberland County District Attorney Stephanie Anderson did not comment on what the state might do next.

Both sides saddened

Harvey said the family was disappointed that LaPointe was not convicted of manslaughter, but pleased with the two felony convictions.

“This was not a vote of not guilty,” Harvey said. “There was guilt there or it would not have been a hung jury.”

After the verdict, attorney J. Albert Johnson spoke on behalf of LaPointe. Standing between his lawyer and his wife, Heather, tears rolled down LaPointe’s face, but he did not speak.

Johnson expressed LaPointe’s condolences to the families of Trott and Groetzinger, calling the crash a “tragic accident.”

“This has never left his mind and never will,” Johnson said.

“It was never our intent to place blame on the victims of this accident,” Johnson said after acknowledging that the question of whether lights were visible on Trott’s boat probably played a large part in the outcome of the trial.

Before bringing the jury into the courtroom packed with family, friends, the press and court employees, Crowley warned those present that he would not tolerate any exclamations in approval or disapproval of the verdict.

As all of the jurors told Crowley they did not think that with more time or information they could resolve their deadlock on the manslaughter and reckless conduct charges, LaPointe stared at his lap.

Attempt at bail revocation

Anderson moved to revoke bail and incarcerate LaPointe immediately. She backed up her request by saying LaPointe did not turn himself in on the day he agreed to in October, though he did eventually.

At his arraignment, his bail was reduced from $100,000 to $50,000, Anderson said, and included a requirement not to consume or possess alcohol. During a July 6 bail check at his home, authorities found 28 beers, 11 bottles of liquor, empty beer cans, two open bottles of wine and two Zanex, according to Anderson.

“He gave false testimony under oath,” Anderson said of the trial proceedings. “He maligned and slandered other witnesses.”

While Johnson declined to comment on the “appropriateness” of Anderson’s statements, he said that his client was not a flight risk and had not violated conditions of release.

Crowley did not revoke LaPointe’s bail, leaving it at $50,000, with conditions that LaPointe should not operate or ride in a boat and not possess or allow in his household alcohol or illicit drugs.

Hopes for closure

Maine Warden Service Capt. Dan Scott said he hoped the verdict would bring closure to the families of Trott and Groetzinger.

“Today Mr. LaPointe was held accountable for his actions,” Scott said, emphasizing that LaPointe was convicted on two felony charges.

Scott said the investigation was the most comprehensive to date completed by the Maine Warden Service, and cost the agency $100,000.

Philip Dugas, an investigator with the Maine Warden Service, said he wasn’t disappointed with the verdict. “It wasn’t the verdict we hoped for, but it’s what we got,” Dugas said.

Dugas said for more than a year he has spent every day working on the case. “It was a huge effort,” Dugas said.

Harvey said she met friends of Trott during the trial process and they swapped stories about the love Groetzinger and Trott felt for each other throughout the eight weeks they were together before their deaths.

“The District Attorney’s office has done a fabulous job,” Harvey said. “We are very, very grateful to them.” She also asked legislators to consider banning boats like LaPointe’s from inland lakes and waterways.

“To have that size of a boat on lakes and streams of Maine is just wrong,” Harvey said.

Reckless or accidental?

The verdict came after nearly 2 1/2 days of deliberation, during which time friends and family waited anxiously at the courthouse.

During the trial Anderson and Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Norbert attempted to prove that LaPointe’s drunken and reckless behavior caused the deaths of Trott and Groetzinger.

Johnson, George Hasset and Neale Duffet, the attorneys for LaPointe, asserted their client was not drunk and operated his boat safely and prudently at all times. They emphasized their client may not have been able to see Trott’s boat if its navigational lights were off.

In her closing arguments for the state, Anderson said the jury’s decision boiled down to two questions: was the defendant reckless? and was he over the legal blood alcohol limit? Proving that he was over the limit involved only determining that his blood alcohol level was at least .08 percent, not showing that he acted intoxicated, Anderson said.

Anderson pointed to LaPointe’s admission on the night of the crash to Marlene Fillebrown, a nurse at Bridgton Hospital, that he had been drinking all day, stopped for an hour, and had six more beers.

Anderson said that the lack of lights on Trott’s boat did not exonerate LaPointe for his actions. LaPointe took a gamble by speeding up the lake, Anderson said. He gambled with other peoples’ lives.

“That boat was seen,” Anderson said. “He didn’t avoid it because he was speeding and alcohol impaired his judgment.”

“Terry Raye Trott and Suzanne Groetzinger had the bad luck to be in his path, and that’s the tragedy,” Anderson said. “Could there be anything more lethal than ‘No Patience’ in the hands of Robert LaPointe on Aug. 11, 2007?”

In his closing statements for the defense, Hasset questioned the blood alcohol test result and pointed to testimony that LaPointe did not appear impaired by alcohol on the night of the crash, supporting LaPointe’s own statements that he had only three beers throughout the day.

“That blood sample took a back seat in Jason Luce’s truck,” Hasset said, questioning the validity of the test because it sat in a truck for over 34 hours before being delivered to the state crime lab.

“Look closely at that test,” Hasset said, adding that Terry Raye Trott was operating at a .07 percent blood alcohol level.

Hasset pointed out the testimony of Maine Warden Service Capt. Dan Scott in his closing arguments to assert that without lights, Trott’s boat was essentially invisible to LaPointe.

Testifying Sept. 18 about his re-enactment of the conditions of the collision on Aug. 14, 2007, Scott testified that he had to actively look for the boat without lights to see it when passing at 45 mph.

LaPointe’s account

In closing arguments, Anderson and Hasset both referred to segments of LaPointe’s own dramatic testimony Sept. 19.

In often emphatic and sometimes tearful testimony, LaPointe declared his innocence during several hours of questioning.

“I could not avoid what happened out there that night,” LaPointe said. “I got into that accident because there were no lights on that boat.”

LaPointe, who buys and sells used telephone equipment and splits his time between Medway, Mass., and Bridgton, told the jury he has 6-year-old and 9-year-old daughters.

“I could have lost my family that night,” LaPointe said, indicating that anyone in the courtroom could have lost their family that night.

As LaPointe described in detail the events leading up to the crash, his voice rose and wavered. Partway through his testimony, as LaPointe described going home and calling his wife after leaving the hospital, he started crying. Crowley granted a short recess to let him compose himself.

While questioning LaPointe, Johnson put particular emphasis on how much alcohol LaPointe consumed throughout the day on Aug. 11, 2007.

LaPointe told the court he drank three beers throughout the day, contradicting a taped interview with Game Warden Jason Luce the day of the crash, when LaPointe said he drank six or eight beers all day. LaPointe also said on tape he was traveling at 45 to 50 mph on the lake.

In court, LaPointe said he started the day at his property in Bridgton, and later had lunch with friends at Rick’s Cafa in Naples. He said he ordered a beer but did not finish it, drinking a soda instead.

After lunch, LaPointe said he went to the sandbar on Long Lake, where he spent time with friends and, according to his testimony, drank two more beers. LaPointe said he left the sandbar around 6:30-6:45 p.m. and went to the Randall house in Harrison, where he picked up Nicole Randall and went to find her parents who were on their boat near First Island.

LaPointe tied his boat to the Randalls’ and climbed aboard for some time, drinking another beer in the process. At 8:45 p.m. the group split up and headed up the lake back to Harrison.

“Nicole saw a boat coming with no lights on and brought it to my attention,” LaPointe said Friday, adding that he yelled at the operator of the passing boat. “I said, ‘Turn your freakin’ lights on’,” LaPointe said.

Around five minutes later, LaPointe accelerated.

“I was looking around me to see where all the boats were,” LaPointe said. Soon after, he felt a violent impact and was thrown from his boat. He said he shouted for Nicole and they swam to shore together.

After being examined by Richard Strout, an emergency medical technician, LaPointe said he followed Luce to his truck, where Luce asked him 10 or 12 times what had happened. Lapointe said Luce badgered him into saying he was driving faster and had more to drink. Additionally, Luce did not tell LaPointe he was recording the conversation.

“He said, ‘C’mon Robert, you couldn’t have possibly been going 30 mph’,” LaPointe said. “I said ‘Why do you keep changing my story’?”

On the witness stand LaPointe said he was traveling 30 mph and keeping an active lookout for other boats and obstacles.

“Having seen a boat without lights, why didn’t you crawl back to Harrison?” Anderson asked. LaPointe replied that he was keeping a good lookout.

LaPointe also denied making a gesture to Fillebrown that she should draw her own blood in place of his and admitting how much he had to drink to her.

Anderson concluded her cross-examination by saying that those two people lost their lives because of LaPointe’s operation. LaPointe denied the statement.

More court dates

Resting on Wednesday’s verdict could be the fate of two civil suits filed by the heirs of Trott and Groetzinger.

The suits seek damages from LaPointe for the suffering and death of Groetzinger and Trott, from Casino Properties, owners of Rick’s Casino in Naples, for negligently serving alcohol to LaPointe, and from George LaPointe Jr. for accepting a parcel of land from his son after learning of the plaintiffs’ intent to sue.

The state limit for wrongful death is $500,000 for loss of comfort and companionship and emotional distress and $75,000 for punitive damages. There is no limit to damages due to economic loss, which applies to Groetzinger since she was caring for her son, a minor, at the time of her death.

The limit in the Maine Liquor Liability Act for damages arising from any one incident is $250,000. A trial date for the civil suits has not been set.

“Susie was everyone’s sunshine,” Meg Harvey said. “She would not want her family to go through this.”

Heather and a tearful Robert LaPointe emerge from the Cumberland County Courthouse Wednesday after he was convicted of two counts of aggravated operating under the influence during a fatal collision on Long Lake in Harrison in August 2007. The jury deadlocked on two manslaughter and one reckless conduct charge in the deaths of Terry Raye Trott and Suzanne Groetzinger.While Heather and Robert laPointe declined comment after his trial, attorney J. Albert Johnson, right, expressed his condolences to the Trott and Groetzinger families and said his client