Michael J. Glynn was driging a stolen vehicle when he slammed into a stopped car, killing a mother of two children.

07:52 AM EDT on Friday, May 21, 2004

BY RICHARD C. DUJARDIN
Journal Staff Writer

Journal photo / Kathy Borchers Michael J. Glynn, 41, was sentenced yesterday.

PROVIDENCE -- The driver of a stolen car whose barhopping and attempts to elude the police ended in a crash that killed a 48-year-old East Providence woman and severely injured her son was sentenced yesterday to 22 years in prison.

The sentence imposed on Michael J. Glynn, 41, of 150 Sutton Ave., East Providence, was described by Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch as the most severe in state history for a drunken-driving conviction. The previous maximum was 17 years at the Adult Correctional Institutions.

Superior Court Associate Justice Robert D. Krause imposed the sentence minutes after Glynn, wearing a tan sports jacket and denim pants, softly addressed Lucy Fonseca's family, whose lives were tragically altered by the crash on Aug. 20, 2001.

"I am deeply sorry for all the pain that I caused you," Glynn said, as Fonseca's husband of 19 years, Robert R. Fonseca, and their daughter Melissa embraced and wept. "Please forgive me."

Earlier, Robert Fonseca had said that, beyond a letter that Assistant Attorney General Matthew S. Dawson had read on his behalf, he had just one more thing to say: that it was time to "set an example" and show that drunken driving will not be tolerated in Rhode Island.

Glynn, who has been held without bail at the ACI since the accident, did not contest the charges against him in a hearing before Krause on March 29.

Before imposing the sentence, Krause yesterday rejected a request by Glynn's attorney, Leo Manfred, that Krause follow the example of judges in several other drunken-driving cases in which lighter sentences were imposed. Manfred had suggested that Glynn's sentence be kept to nine years.

Krause said he was not going to be "trapped" by any of those earlier rulings, but instead would impose a sentence commensurate with the crime.

Calling Glynn's actions "horrendous," Krause said the tragedy would not have occurred had Glynn heeded the admonition of the late Judge Thomas H. Needham, who gave Glynn a 10-year suspended sentence for biting off a man's ear during a fight in 1993.

"Judge Needham told you to separate yourself from alcohol or you will end up doing hard time," Krause said. "You had the choice, and you ignored Judge Needham's admonition. Now you must be held accountable."

A native of the Azores, Lucy Fonseca worked full time as an expediter and supervisor at Parker Manufacturing Co., in East Providence, and occasionally with relatives at the Wannamoisett Country Club, in Rumford, while trying to support her two teenage children and her disabled husband.

On the evening of the crash, she picked up her son at a football scrimmage so they could join her daughter and other relatives at a birthday party at her sister's home.

After telling her daughter, Melissa, that she'd see her at home later on, Fonseca and her son, Robert J. Fonseca, now a 17-year-old student at East Providence High School, headed home, stopping at a red light at North Broadway and Greenwood Avenue in Rumford.

There, according to the police, Glynn's speeding car slammed into Fonseca's Ford Taurus from behind, pushing the Taurus 138 feet into a utility pole. The crash killed Lucy Fonseca instantly and left her son in a coma, with serious injuries to his head and leg.

For Glynn, it was the end of a fateful day that began when he dropped into a bar in Riverside at 10 a.m. to have a few beers. According to the attorney general's office, Glynn visited four different bars and clubs and drank 18 beers over the next several hours, ending up at a pub in Warren.

From there, he called his estranged wife, whose second-floor apartment on Ferris Avenue in East Providence is only 100 yards from the Fonseca residence on Brentwood Drive, to ask for a ride home. When she refused, he began walking home, eventually coming upon a rental car with keys in the ignition at the Fleet Bank ATM machine on County Road in Barrington. He hopped in, and nearly ran over Alfred Cardarelli, who had rented the car, before driving away toward East Providence.

Cardarelli called 911. The East Providence police saw Glynn driving the car, and a chase began with as many as four police cars following Glynn at speeds up to 75 mph. The police had earlier received a call from Glynn's wife, telling them about their earlier conversation. Supecting that Glynn was heading to his wife's apartment, the police broke off the chase, only to come upon the crash wreckage moments later.

Lucy Fonseca's son, Robert, then 14, was in a coma for nine days, and in the hospital for weeks after that. He did not know of his mother's death until long after her burial.

In the courtroom yesterday, Dawson read a letter in which the teenager refers to the "huge emptiness" in his life, knowing that his mother will not be there to see him when he graduates or marries or has a child.

He also read letters from Melissa Fonseca, 21, who said she will always regret not having told her mother, "I love you," the last time she saw her alive, and how she hoped that Glynn would be sentenced to "the fullest extent of the law."

And then there was the letter from husband Robert, who spoke of his wife as "my rock and my passion," who made him believe in himself, and how, afer the accident, "all we can do now is visit Lucy in the cemetery."

Glynn's attorney, Manfred, told Krause that his client was full of remorse and "sick about this," and did not deny that he was at fault. Since his arrest, he said, Glynn has joined Alcoholics Anonymous and has been trying to turn his life around.

Manfred quoted from a letter Glynn which says: "I don't deserve the blessings I was given in this life . . . I now hope I will become the man God wants me to be."

According to the attorney general's office, Glynn had a blood-alcohol level three times the legal limit when he was arrested at the scene of the accident. He had suffered minor injuries.

On a count of driving under the influence, death resulting, Krause imposed the maximum sentence of 15 years to serve. On a count of driving under the influence, personal injury resulting, stemming from the injuries to Fonseca's son, Krause imposed a sentence of 10 years, with 7 to serve.

He said the two sentences would be served consecutively, in effect sentencing Glynn to 25 years, with 22 to serve, on those two counts alone.

In addition, Krause imposed an additional 10-year-suspended sentence for reckless driving, death resulting; a 5-year suspended sentence for reckless driving, personal injury resulting; and 5 years suspended for driving a stolen car. Those sentences, which would be served concurrently, would begin after the initial 25-year sentence ends in 2026. Glynn's total sentence is 35 years.

Glynn has been held since his arrest three years ago, and that time would count toward his sentence.

Krause also ordered Glynn to undergo alcohol rehabilitation, making that a condition of his receiving a suspension of his later sentences, and said Glynn will never be permitted to drive a motor vehicle again.

After Glynn was led out in handcuffs and relatives from both families had filed out of the courtroom, Melissa Fonseca said she thought the sentence was fair, given that Glynn "took my mother's life."

Attorney General Lynch later declared it was "right" and "just" that Glynn was given the stiffest sentence for drunken driving ever handed up in the state, calling Glynn a "career criminal with a track record of serious offenses."

Said Lynch: "I commend Judge Krause for imposing this sentence and sending such a strong message to society about the evils of drinking and driving."