Pecor Sentenced
by Ben Hogwood
& J.B. McKinley

HYDE PARK - Theodore Pecor, the man who drove into another vehicle in
Johnson which resulted in three deaths, was sentenced to 3 to 15 years
in jail, with an additional 5-6 month suspended sentence, in Lamoille
District Court on Tuesday, August 17.
"I'm pleased that his case has finally been resolved and it may make it
possible for the victims' families to get back to some sort of normal
life," said Lamoille County State's Attorney Joel Page.
He continued to qualify this statement by saying there were some victims
who wanted very, very long sentences for Pecor...like you'd get for
murder. He explained that the facts of the case, such as the fact that
the accident was not intentional, made that kind of sentence unrealistic.
Pecor, 27, of Johnson, pled no contest to three felony counts of grossly
negligent operation with death resulting and guilty to a misdemeanor
charge of possession of marijuana on Friday, May 28. The state dropped
three charges of manslaughter.
Pecor was returning from a University of Vermont drug program in
Burlington when he hit a vehicle, driven by Kevin Baker, 44, in the
Willow Crossing area on Route 15. Baker and passengers Dean Fountain,
69, and Lyman Dezotelle, 44, were killed in the crash. The three were on
their way to work at IBM.
"I feel really bad for the victims because this sentence is not going to
make them feel any better," he decided. However, he said he was
satisfied with the sentence "... given the facts we had to work with."
While some of the victims wanted a longer sentence for Pecor, others put
more of the blame on the UVM drug program. Ann Baker, wife of Kevin,
wrote a letter to the court stating her feelings on the matter. "What we
all need to remember was that Mr. Pecor was leaving a drug treatment
center where he had intrusted [sic] himself to the care of the doctors
and staff members," she stated, continuing that they wanted to know why
those employees let Pecor leave, after taking an opiate alternative.
Jessica Baker, Kevin's daughter, also wrote a letter to the court,
stating, "We need to think about culpability and intent. How much
control does one have when they entrust themself to a doctor for
treatment? When Pecor left the clinic in Burlington, he was given leave
to drive home. Did he make the decision on his own? No. Did he entrust
his safety with the people who were treating him, who's [sic] judgement
was clear and unhampered by the drug they used to treat him? Yes. He was
failed, and now he's facing the penalty."
Pecor had taken bupre-norphine, which the Food and Drug Administration
states "may impair the mental or physical abilities required for the
performance of potentially dangerous tasks such as driving a
car...especially during drug induction and dose adjustment."
Pecor began serving his sentence in Springfield on Thursday, May 27.