Teen texted before crash, prosecutors say

HAVERHILL, Mass., May 30 (UPI) -- In Massachusetts' first known case of motor vehicle homicide by texting, prosecutors highlighted a driver's use of his cellphone in a crash that killed two.

Aaron Deveau of Haverhill, 17 at the time of the accident in February 2011, faces up to four years in jail if convicted of motor vehicle homicide and negligent operation causing serious bodily injury due to electronic messaging, the Boston Herald reported Wednesday.

In opening statements at his trial Tuesday in Haverhill District Court, prosecutors noted Deveau had sent or received 193 text messages in the hours before the head-on collision that killed the driver of the other vehicle, Donald Bowley Jr., and left Bowley's passenger, Luz Selena Roman, injured.

Haverhill police officer Thomas Howell testified Tuesday he found Bowley and Roman "folded in the floorboards" of their Toyota. "Their arms were entangled with one another."

Bowley suffered massive brain trauma, and Essex County Assistant District Attorney Ashlee Morgan said his family took him off life support after 18 days.