Man Found Guilty of Manslaugher Under New Mass. Drunk Driving Statute

A Charlestown, Mass. man has been found guilty of manslaughter by motor vehicle and other charges in the death of a 16-year-old girl last year.

Twenty-nine-year-old Robert Getz was sentenced to five years in prison on the charge of manslaughter while operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol. Krystyl Poirier of Everett was killed in April 2006 when Getz’s car struck the one in which she was a passenger.

A spokesman for the Middlesex District Attorney’s office says it’s the first guilty verdict in a trial under the new charge included in Melanie’s Law. The 2005 law toughened penalties for drunken driving. A Bristol County defendant pleaded guilty to the new charge in an earlier case.

Getz faces sentencing October 22 on the lesser charges including motor vehicle homicide, operating under the influence and operating under the influence causing serious bodily injury.