AUGUSTA — Royce Jewell raised his voice and pointed his finger, looking across the table at the man whose actions in an automobile crash two decades ago caused the death of his wife and 10-year-old son.

Bryan Carrier, 39, of Fairfield, looked away from him.

It was Monday morning during a Bureau of Motor Vehicles hearing for Carrier, whose license was revoked for life following a 1996 drunken driving accident in which three people died and two others were seriously injured. Carrier was again seeking to get back the right to drive, which was suspended for life when he was sentenced.

“When he took this deal, it was for life on the license and that was it,” said Jewell, 65, of Canaan, whose wife, Arlyce Jewell, 42, and their 10-year-old son, Alex, died in the crash. Jewell also was injured in the crash.

“I didn’t agree with that at the time, and I never got to face that man. Look at me, boy,” Jewell said during the hearing, pointing across the hearing table at Carrier. “I never got to talk the last time — 20 years ago. I want this (expletive) over with.”

Hearing examiner Benjamin Tucker, who is expected to issue a decision later in writing, quickly called for a break in testimony.

Jewell’s frustrations were among a string of emotionally-charged moments during Monday’s hearing, which was Carrier’s third attempt at an appeal in the 20 years that have passed since the crash on Nov. 22, 1996, that resulted in the deaths of Arlyce and Alex Jewell and Elbert Knowles, who was 15.

After Tucker called for a break during Monday’s hearing, a security officer ushered Jewell out into the hallway, where they were joined by another security officer. Once in the hallway, Jewell told security officers that it “wasn’t right” what was going on and asked “why should I go through this torture over and over?”

Jewell was advised to calm his language and to comply with hearing protocol.

“My statement is he’s not driving no more — life is life. That’s what he was told by the judge,” Jewell said.

Back in the conference room, Jewell referred to the Carrier family’s large business operation saying, “How many trucks do they have? Sell two trucks and buy a cab company.”

Carrier, who was 19 years old at the time of the accident, drove a pickup truck at high speed through a stop sign on East Ridge Road in Skowhegan and slammed into a van that was heading east on U.S. Route 2. He pleaded guilty in 1997 in Somerset County Superior Court to three counts of manslaughter and three counts of aggravated operating under the influence. Carrier’s blood-alcohol level after the crash was 0.11, over the legal limit of 0.08.

He was sentenced to 10 years in prison with all but two years suspended, six years of probation and 2,000 hours of community service on the manslaughter conviction. On the OUI charge, Carrier was sentenced to two years in prison to run at the same time as the manslaughter sentence and ordered to pay $6,000 in fines.

In addition, his driver’s license was suspended for life. He was released on March 30, 1999, from the Charleston Correctional Facility.

Carrier’s attorney, Walt McKee, said there is a provision under state law that allows a person whose license is permanently revoked to petition the state to get his or her license back 10 years after the date the person is no longer incarcerated. He said friends and family members of the victims may have been unaware of the law, which was approved by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.

McKee said part of the request for license reinstatement to the Secretary of State’s office is a provision that Carrier’s car or truck be equipped with a restrictive ignition interlock device, which would prevent the vehicle from starting if alcohol is detected by the device after the driver breaths into the machine. He said safety will not be an issue if Carrier’s license is reinstated.

FAMILY SUPPORT

Monday’s emotional two-hour hearing in Augusta featured testimony under oath from Carrier, several of his family members and from three family members and friends of the victims of the crash.

“I am truly sorry for what I’ve done,” Carrier said, adding that he cannot take away the pain the families continue to feel. “I hope that someday you can forgive me.”

Carrier, who still works for the family business, Carrier Chipping, said he is not the same person he was 20 years ago. He said he is married with two children and relies on his mother to take him places and often rides a bicycle to work. He said he has undergone counseling.

“I think about it every day,” he said of the fatal accident.

John Carrier, a cousin from Connecticut, said he and Bryan are close to the same age and spent a lot of time growing up together.

“Bryan still has a big heart,” John Carrier said. “He wanted to be everybody’s friend.”

Peter Carrier, Bryan’s brother who was 14 at the time of the deadly crash, echoed his cousin’s sentiment, saying Bryan is one of the hardest working people he ever met and that many people had pulled him aside and expressed support for his brother.

Carrier’s wife, Logan, and her mother, Denise Pukas, said Carrier is a good man, a good provider and a good father.

‘HE TOOK THE PLEA’

Another passenger who was injured in the 1996 crash, Nicole Johnson, who was then 17, spoke at the hearing Monday about her friend Elbert Knowles.

Carrier got his life back, but without a driver’s license, she said.

“I can’t get Bert back. He wants his license back, but I can’t get Bert back,” Johnson said. “He took the plea. That was his sentence and he should suck it up.”

Arlyce Jewell’s sister, Leah Tessier, said the deaths destroyed her family. She said she doesn’t remember Carrier ever apologizing to the family.

“You say today you apologize. Never until today did I hear you say this,” Tessier said. “I believe it’s too late.”

Tracey Rotondi, whose mother, Arlyce, and brother, Alex, were killed that night, said the crash also put a distance between her and her father, Royce Jewell. She said the family was never the same after the accident.

“I feel this is only justice,” said Rotondi, of Athens, looking directly at Carrier across the hearing table. “You never said you were sorry to us. It turned my world, my life, my marriage upside down.”

Rotondi also produced a Facebook post by Carrier, in which he used profanity responding to comments critical of his request to get his license back. Rotondi said that post was offensive to her and her family.

“You know what that makes me and others feel when we read that’s how you talk about what you did?” she said. “It’s hurtful, and I’d like you to look at me in the eye and say you’re sorry, because you never have and I think I deserve that from you.”

McKee later said that under state law, Carrier is allowed to seek reinstatement and was responding in that post to public criticism — not to friends and family of the victims of the crash.

“Did he use coarse language? Yes, he did,” McKee said. “But it was out of frustration at all of the many misstatements about him. Bryan is not perfect, but has shown at the hearing today he is no threat to public safety and he should be allowed to drive again.”

At the close of the hearing, McKee asked Tucker, the hearing examiner, to “have the courage to apply the rule of law.”

Doug Harlow — 612-2367

dharlow@centralmaine.com

Twitter:@Doug_Harlow