The Maine Supreme Judicial Court on Aug. 22 upheld a lower court's conviction of a driver in a fatal Woowich accident.

According to the ruling by Maine’s highest court, the case involved a fatal multi-vehicle accident on Route 1 in Woolwich in August 2015. Thomas Palmer of Montpelier, Vermont testified in court that he “looked up” to see a vehicle stopped immediately ahead of him while it was turning on Route 1 at Shaw Road. The ruling states that at the time of the crash, Palmer told investigators he might have been looking at a piece of paper inside his vehicle, or perhaps was just stretching his neck, shortly before the crash; the crash reconstruction team determined Palmer, who was driving a truck, did not brake. He hit a car that was forced into hitting a van in the southbound lane, which then hit an SUV, the ruling states. It states an elderly passenger in the van later died from his injuries. Other people, including the wife of the man who died, were also injured, according to the ruling.

At the trial, after hearing testimony from Palmer and the driver of the car, Albert Pinkham of Wiscasset, who reported that Palmer’s truck was swerving before the impact, the judge concluded that Palmer was distracted, and convicted him of several moving violations which resulted in Palmer’s license being suspended for two years. His lawyer appealed, arguing that unless police could identify what distracted him, the most serious charges of a motor violation causing death and failure to maintain control could not be proved.

On Aug. 22, the high court affirmed the lower court ruling, saying “The court explicitly found, based on evidence in the record that Palmer failed to see that which was there to be seen, resulting in the crash. When this conclusion is considered along with the entire record, in particular Palmer’s equivocal testimony about what he was doing in the moments before the crash, there is sufficient circumstantial evidence to support an inference that Palmer was engaged in an activity that was not necessary to the operation of the vehicle and would reasonably have been expected to impair his ability to safely operate the vehicle.”

The high court concluded the evidence was sufficient for the court to find, by a preponderance of the evidence, that Palmer was engaged in the operation of a motor vehicle while distracted.

Palmer's conviction of failure to maintain control was elevated because a death occurred. He was fined $2,619 on that conviction.

Jon Liberman, the district attorney in Prosecutorial District VI, represented the state in Palmer’s appeal to the law court. Liberman said the ruling is more helpful than harmful in future prosecutions for distracted driving, but he cautioned that the Palmer decision was case-specific. “His own testimony strongly suggested that he was doing something that wasn't specific to the operation of the vehicle at the time of the crash, and that's the statute definition of distracted driving,” he said. “Still, it gives law enforcement additional tools when examining an accident scene or a traffic stop for erratic operations. The case demonstrates that an obvious 'distraction' need not be present in order to successfully prosecute the driver.”

The Wiscasset Newspaper attempted to reach Palmer’s attorney, Jeffrey Toothaker of Ellsworth, for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.