Court filing: Salem doctor would plead guilty to DUI for house arrest
May 2—SALEM, N.H. — The status of a possible plea deal in the DUI case against Dr. Scott Dowd was kept under wraps when those involved left Rockingham Superior Court on Friday afternoon.
But new paperwork reveals what the 38-year-old Salem physician is willing to admit to in exchange for a lighter sentence.
According to a sentencing memorandum filed by Dowd's attorney, Michael Bowser, he is requesting that three of five felony charges be dropped, leaving him to admit to aggravated driving while intoxicated and reckless conduct.
The suggested sentence is a year of home confinement with an additional 2 1/2 to 5 years dependent on good behavior. Dowd would also complete 1,000 hours of community service at a county medical facility or nursing home.
The prosecution, however, has a vastly different opinion and is recommending five years of incarceration, the paperwork states.
Reports by Salem police officers who responded to the crash in July 2021 describe a chaotic scene and the near-death of Giuliana Tutrone, who was 5 years old at the time.
Dowd is accused of speeding through a residential neighborhood — just a mile from his own home — when he drove into a granite mailbox with enough force to launch part of it into 16 Silverbrook Road.
Surveillance footage taken inside shows Giuliana walking into the path of the post as it entered an office at the front of the residence.
In the new court paperwork, Bowser writes of the stress his client has undergone during the pandemic. He also includes praise from clients Dowd has treated thus far in his 12-year career.
In 2016 he became an attending physician with Orthopedics Northeast, which has offices in Salem, New Hampshire, and Andover, Massachusetts. He worked there until his arrest, treating a total of 7,000 patients during his tenure, according to Bowser.
"Throughout the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Dowd continued to see patients and perform outpatient operations," the attorney went on. "Dr. Dowd received an average of 100 to 120 office visits and performed approximately 50 procedures each week until the date of the alleged incident."
When elective orthopedic surgeries were canceled, Bowser said Dowd and his partners at the medical practice were "unable to generate fee for services income."
"Dr. Dowd was under a tremendous amount of professional and personal stress," paperwork states, including, "the prospect of catching this life-threatening disease and the deaths of several patients known personally to him."
His attorney says those stressors contributed directly to "the abhorrent and totally out-of-character behavior on July 10, 2021."
Other than failing to wear a seatbelt in 2001, records show that Dowd has no motor vehicle record or criminal background.
In arguing that the state's suggested sentence is too harsh, Bowser wrote, "this is not a death case," and "the state's recommended sentence substantially exceeds the typical sentencing range for comparable cases."
"It even exceeds the average sentencing range for cases in which a victim died because of the defendant's alleged actions," Bowser said.
Though the New Hampshire Board of Medicine suspended Dowd's license to practice in August 2021, Dowd hopes to continue his professional career, according to his attorney.
Though it is unclear whether both sides have accepted an agreement, a plea and sentence hearing is scheduled for June 3.
