PORTLAND, Maine — It was a crash that grabbed headlines three summers ago. A pickup truck crashed into an SUV with a father and three daughters inside.
One of those daughters was 9-year-old Raelynn Bell, who died in the crash.
Former corrections officer Kenneth Morang, the driver of the pickup truck, is now on trial and is being charged with manslaughter because prosecutors said he was driving recklessly due to a serious lack of sleep after working a 16-hour shift.
"If you were to look at his timecard from Sunday to Sunday, say the 14th through the 22nd when this occurred, he logged more than 80 hours that week. Fifty-five of which occurred between the 17th and the 21st," one state prosecutor argued.
"The state and I agree on many facts of this case. My client was driving a vehicle that caused the death of Raelynn, we don't disagree on that," Defense Attorney Amy Fairfield added.
But what Fairfield and the state differ on is Morang's 'state of mind' that day, and whether Morang's actions in the days leading up to the crash, in the form of working all that overtime, rise to the level of reckless behavior.