Judge says no to Lafond's work-release request

LACONIA — The driver who caused a 2013 crash that killed one teenage girl and seriously injured another will not be transferred to a halfway house in order to participate in a work-release program, a superior court judge ruled Tuesday.

In a one-page ruling, Judge James D. O’Neill III said the consequences of Amy Lafond’s crimes were too great to lighten her prison sentence.

Lafond, 57, has served 4½ years of a six- to 14-year sentence for causing the death of Lilyanna Johnson and seriously injuring Allyssa Miner. Lafond pleaded guilty in May 2014 to charges of negligent homicide and second-degree assault resulting in serious bodily injury. She was under the influence of drugs at the time of the crash, according to the charges against her.

“... the underlying sentences were the product of a fully negotiated disposition” of the case, O’Neill wrote, underlining the word “fully” to give it emphasis.

“The court does not find that the appropriate punitive effect of said sentence would be realized if the pending relief request was granted,” O’Neill stated.

The state Corrections Department recommended Lafound be allowed to participate in a work-release program, stating, “... the likelihood of rehabilitation would be enhanced by participation in (the) program.” The Belknap County Attorney’s Office said it did not object to the request. But the two girls’ families opposed it, saying that, in view of the serious consequences of her actions, Lafond did not deserve any special privileges.

“My family and I are more than pleasantly surprised and grateful that there are people who will stand up for making people pay for the consequences of what they do,” Bethany Davis, Johnson’s mother, said when told of O’Neill’s decision.

The suffering and anguish of the victims’ families were clearly on O’Neill’s mind as he wrote the decision.

“The impact of the defendant’s criminal actions on the victims and their family and friends was and remains profound,” he wrote.

This makes the fourth time Lafond has sought to either have her sentence reduced or to ease its conditions.

In 2015, one year after she began serving her sentence, Lafond asked that she be allowed to leave the state Women’s Prison and serve the balance of her sentence under home confinement. One year later she asked the court to take 180 days off her sentence. And just this past May she asked that the balance of her minimum sentence be suspended. All of those requests were denied.