Jury deliberating in Cumberland corrections officer's manslaughter trial

Emily Allen, Portland Press Herald, Maine
·2 min read
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Oct. 20—The fate of a former Cumberland County corrections officer, on trial for the death of a 9-year-old girl, now rests with a jury of his peers.

Kenneth Morang, 64, was charged with manslaughter in January 2020 after Raelynn Bell died from traumatic brain injuries days after Morang crashed into her family's car.

Attorneys delivered closing arguments Thursday morning before handing the case off to the jury.

Morang was driving home to Standish on July 21, 2019, after working two consecutive 16-hour shifts at the Cumberland County jail. Prosecutors argue Morang knew he was too tired to drive and had a duty to pull over. They say he was driven to work long hours by a desire to earn more money and increase his pension.

The trial has presented conflicting evidence about whether Morang knew he was too tired to drive.

Assistant District Attorney Justina McGettigan told jurors Morang admitted to police after the crash that he had been exhausted, nodding off at the wheel. One witness, Bryan Bean, testified that Morang was drifting to the edges of the road and came close to hitting a tractor-trailer less than two minutes before rear-ending the Bell family's SUV.

Morang took the stand himself Wednesday, telling jurors he was not too tired to drive and that he does not remember what caused the crash.

To find Morang guilty, the jury must decide either that he acted recklessly — consciously disregarding the risk of the actions that led to Bell's death — or with criminal negligence, meaning he failed to be aware of the risk of his actions.

Morang's defense attorney Amy Fairfield said the prosecution's case relied on a flawed investigation and witnesses who can't be trusted, an accusation McGettigan called "conspiratorial."

Fairfield told jurors that Gorham Police Detective Sgt. Daniel Young, who interviewed Morang at the hospital after the crash, and again a few days later, had violated his department's policy by not recording the first conversation with Morang.