Thompkins faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison on the manslaughter charges with a maximum of 20 years on each of the counts.
This is an updated version of a story posted at 2:32 this afternoon.
GREENFIELD – Saying his story “doesn’t make sense,” a Franklin Superior Court judge found Daniel P. Tompkins guilty Tuesday of motor vehicle homicide, manslaughter and other charges stemming from a 2007 crash in Bernardston that killed two people.
Heather Buffum, 21, and Melissa Duff, 25, both died when the Ford Expedition SUV in which they were passengers hit a guardrail and rolled 130 feet on June 20, 2007. Police estimate the vehicle was traveling at 87 miles per hour in a 40-mile-per-hour zone at the time of the crash. Buffum, Duff, Thompkins and Jeffrey Blake, another passenger, were all ejected. Judge John Agostini called the accident the most horrendous he has dealt with, according to the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office.
Medical helicopters were summoned to transport the victims on the night of the crash, using a landing pad behind Greenfield Middle School. During Thompkins’ trial, prosecutor Steven Gagne called the car “a 2,500-pound blender,” adding, “It’s a miracle anyone survived.”
In the jury-waived trail, Thompkins, 34, of Orange, told Agostini that Blake was driving the car when it crashed. Three other witnesses also testified to that effect, but Agostini said Tuesday he didn’t believe them.
“I don’t credit their testimony at all,” he said. “Their stories made no sense to me.”
The witnesses said Blake showed them bruises on his chest that he said came from being crushed against the steering wheel. Agostini noted, however, that it was a sideways collision, not a head-on crash that would have thrown the driver against the wheel. Moreover, he said, a doctor who examined Blake at Baystate Medical Center found no bruising on his chest.
Blake testified that the group had been drinking at several bars in Greenfield before buying more beer and driving to the boat ramp in Northfield. Before the crash, they purchased even more beer in Winchester, he said. Blake said Thompkins was drinking throughout the entire trip.
Tompkins’ blood alcohol content, as measured just after the crash, was 1½ times the legal limit, according to Gagne.
Agostini scheduled sentencing for June 23. In addition to two counts each of manslaughter, motor vehicle manslaughter, and vehicular homicide while under the influence of alcohol, the judge found Thompkins guilty of operating under the influence and negligent operation of a motor vehicle resulting in serious injury. Thompkins faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison on the manslaughter charges with a maximum of 20 years on each of the counts.