An Anson man has begun serving nine months in Somerset County Jail after pleading guilty Friday to two counts of manslaughter in connection with a car crash last year in Embden that resulted in the deaths of two women.
Mark Raymond Schobel, 26, was sentenced Friday morning in Somerset County Superior Court in Skowhegan to an eight-year prison term, with all but nine months suspended, according to his lawyer, Walter “Woody” Hanstein.
Superior Court Justice Robert Clifford ordered his time to be served in the Somerset County Jail, followed by four years of probation.
Schobel, who started his jail sentence Friday, was indicted in October by the Somerset County grand jury in the deaths of Ruth Souweine, 67, of Bangor, and Jennifer Nile, 22, of Embden. Nile was a passenger in Schobel’s car when the Feb. 27, 2014, crash occurred.
Schobel was driving a 2012 Chevrolet Malibu east on Route 16 in Embden around 4:30 p.m. that day and had just passed another vehicle when his car struck a 2012 Subaru Outlook driven by Souweine’s husband, Leon Souweine, according to an affidavit filed at the time by Somerset County Sheriff’s Lt. Carl Gottardi. The head-on crash occurred near Hunnewell Valley Off Road, which hosts mud runs.
Nile was pronounced dead at the scene; Souweine died of her injuries three days later.
Schobel was injured badly in the crash, suffering a shattered pelvis and hip, Hanstein said Saturday.
Hanstein said Schobel is “profoundly remorseful” for the accident and deaths, and the Niles and Souweine families showed great grace in their understanding that Schobel didn’t mean for it to happen. Often, victims’ families are so sad that the only way they can react is through anger, but that was not the case in this instance, according to Hanstein.
“There was a kind of graciousness and sense of charitableness in understanding this was a terrible accident, but nothing Schobel wanted to do,” he said.
Hanstein said the state had asked for a four-year sentence to be served with the state Department of Corrections.
A call placed to Somerset County District Attorney Maeghan Maloney’s cellphone was not returned Saturday. A message left on Niles’ mother, Laurie Nile’s, answering machine also was not immediately returned. Leon Souweine also could not be reached for comment.
Amy Calder — 861-9247
Twitter: @AmyCalder17
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