Supreme Court upholds conviction in deadly 2016 wrong-way crash

March 12, 2021 | By Lisa Scagliotti

The Vermont Supreme Court has upheld the conviction of the wrong-way driver who killed five area teens on Interstate 89 in October 2016. 

In a ruling issued Friday, March 12, the high court affirmed the decision in the 13-day Chittenden Superior Court jury trial in May 2019 that ended with Steven D. Bourgoin sentenced to 30-years-to-life in jail on five counts of second-degree murder and several lesser charges. 

Under Vermont law, convictions carrying a life sentence are subject to appeal. In January, Bourgoin’s lawyers in a video conference hearing made several arguments to the high court seeking to overturn Bourgoin’s conviction.  

They claimed that the state, led by Chittenden County State's Attorney Sarah George, did not adequately prove that Bourgoin intended to cause deadly harm to others when he drove at a high speed toward traffic on the interstate on that October night. They took issue with how prosecutors handled some testimony at trial, including that some wasn’t appropriately shared with the defense; they also challenged instructions made to the jury. 

The ruling recounted how at trial, Bourgoin’s lawyers relied on two psychiatrists to outline his insanity defense in which he claimed “that his partner and daughter were being threatened and that he was being recruited by the government to follow instructions he divined from the car radio and other sources.”

An expert for the state countered that claim and the jury sided with the prosecution, finding Bourgoin guilty on all charges. 

In addition to the murder convictions, Bourgoin was found guilty of stealing the police cruiser and of grossly negligent operation of the cruiser. Vermont Superior Court Judge Kevin Griffin sentenced Bourgoin to 26-years-to-life for each of the murder convictions to be served concurrently; another 4-5 years was added to that for stealing the police vehicle; Griffin also imposed 1-2 years for gross negligent operation of the cruiser, to be served concurrently.

Bourgoin, 40, is serving his sentence at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans Town.

Supreme Court rules trial was handled appropriately

In writing the opinion for the Supreme Court issued today, Associate Justice Harold E. Eaton Jr. rejected the defense claim that the state failed to make a case that Bourgoin knew his actions could result in serious injury or death. 

“Given the evidence presented at trial, this is not a case in which the jury necessarily relied on conjecture or speculation rather than rational inferences in determining that defendant was subjectively aware of the deadly risk his actions posed to other drivers,” Eaton wrote. 

The justice also pointed to crash reconstruction expert testimony that indicated Bourgoin steered toward the car carrying the young people just before the collision. 

“In short, none of the evidence concerning defendant’s movements while driving in the wrong direction on the interstate undercuts the jury’s reasonable determination that the State presented sufficient evidence to support the murder intent element beyond any reasonable doubt,” Eaton wrote.  

The 29-page decision discusses the defense’s other claims in the appeal, rejecting them saying that the factors regarding the testimony, evidence and instructions in dispute ultimately did not have significant bearing on the outcome of the trial or the lower court’s handling of a post-trial defense request for a mistrial. 

“We conclude that the trial court appropriately exercised its discretion under the circumstances in denying the motion for a mistrial by instructing the jury to disregard the challenged testimony and not consider it as evidence” Eaton concluded.  

A community’s tragedy

The crash happened on Oct. 8, 2016 shortly before midnight when five local high school students were driving home in a Volkswagon Jetta on I-89 from a concert in South Burlington. 

The overhead beam in the pavilion at Mad River Park bears the names of the five teens who died in the Oct. 8, 2016 wrong-way car crash. Benches also have dedications to their memory. File photo by Lisa Scagliotti.

Bourgoin got on the highway at Exit 11 in Richmond driving south but turned around and headed north on the southbound side of the interstate at a high rate of speed. He passed several southbound vehicles before, prosecutors argued, he intentionally drove into the path of the oncoming car carrying the five teenagers. 

Following the crash, Bourgoin got out of his damaged Toyota Tacoma pickup and fled the scene in the Williston Police cruiser belonging to the first responding officer who was attempting to rescue the passengers in the crashed car. Bourgoin then drove south, made a U-turn and returned to the accident scene and crashed into the wreckage.  

The incident carries the tragic distinction of being Vermont’s deadliest mass-homicide and its impact was far-reaching across the Mad River and Waterbury communities. 

The teens who died in the crash were 15 and 16 years old. Four were students at Harwood Union High School – Eli Brookens of Waterbury, Liam Hale of Fayston, Mary Harris and Cyrus Zschau of Moretown. The fifth, Janie Cozzi, attended Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, N.H. 

The students are publicly remembered with several memorials including a gazebo at Harwood Union High School, a pavilion and benches at Mad River Park in Waitsfield, and a memorial bench near the Waterbury Public Library.