Woman says 5-year term shows DUI not taken seriously
Her brother was killed by drunk driver
The sister of a Swansea police lieutenant who was killed by a drunk driver said yesterday that the culprit's sentence of five to seven years in prison shows that the crime is not taken seriously in Massachusetts.
Wayne Smith, 51, a volunteer firefighter from Swansea, pleaded guilty earlier this month to manslaughter while driving under the influence of alcohol.
Prosecutors said Smith was drinking at a Fire Department fund-raiser on Nov. 5, 2005, before he drove into the wrong lane on Route 6 in Swansea.
His pickup truck collided head-on with a cruiser, killing Lieutenant Robert M. Cabral, 52, a 26-year veteran of the Swansea Police Department, father of two boys, and a DARE officer known in town as Officer Bob.
"Drunken driving needs to be taken seriously, and it has not been," Cabral's sister, Josephine Lapre of Warren, R.I., said in a telephone interview yesterday after Smith was sentenced in New Bedford Superior Court. "Bobby never drank, ever. And Bobby's death is only worth five years? I don't understand that."
Under state law, Smith could have received up to 20 years in prison. Prosecutors had requested a sentence of seven to 10 years, arguing that Smith's blood alcohol level, at more than twice the legal limit, showed he was extremely reckless.
But Judge Robert C. Rufo sentenced Smith to five to seven years.
"We were disappointed," Gregg M. Miliote, a spokesman for Bristol District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter, said after the sentencing yesterday. "We made a pretty strong argument, and the judge did not agree with us."
Just before his sentencing, Smith stood before Rufo, dabbed his nose with a cloth, and apologized.
"I'd like to say that I'm just sorry for everything I've done, not only to the Cabral family, everyone that's involved, but to the courts," Smith said, his voice breaking. "I made a big mistake. Whatever you do to me, I think about it every day."
Lapre, who had rushed to see her brother at Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River after the crash, said she would think about that day every day, as well.
"When you hold someone you love in your arms, and they're cold, and they didn't die from disease but by the hand of someone else," Lapre said, "it stays with you forever."
David DeIuliis, spokesman for Mothers Against Drunk Driving Massachusetts, said judges often give less than the maximum sentence and families are often disappointed.
His group is focused on preventing accidents through education and devices that prevent cars from starting when a driver is impaired.
"I'm not certain that even by increasing those [sentences], that we're going to do anything to solve the problem," DeIuliis said.
"Ultimately, the question we have to ask is how would we prevent this from happening again?" 