PROVIDENCE –– When Samantha Beaudette agreed to accompany Kellie Woodbine on a car trip to pick up cigarettes three years ago, she never imagined that Woodbine would cause the fiery crash that resulted in her death.

“She was 16 and she trusted that an adult would keep her safe. I taught her to trust adults,” Samantha’s mother, Sharon Beaudette Achorn said. “That’s what we’re supposed to do: Keep them safe.”

But Woodbine, who was 27 when Samantha died, was in no condition to keep anybody safe.

Assistant Attorney General Stephen A. Regine said Woodbine had a blood alcohol level three times the legal limit and was traveling 95 mph when she crashed into a bridge abutment on Route 95.

Woodbine, now 29 and under house arrest in Cumberland, pleaded no contest yesterday to driving while intoxicated, death resulting, and reckless driving, death resulting.

She withdrew her not guilty plea as a result of a plea agreement worked out by Regine and her lawyer, Steven D. DiLibero, that limits the maximum sentence she can get to eight years.

Judge Mark A. Pfeiffer will have the discretion to impose a lesser prison term when Woodbine returns to Superior Court on Sept. 12 to be sentenced, Regine said.

She would have faced a sentence of up to 25 years in prison if she had been convicted of both charges at trial and had been sentenced to consecutive terms.

A popular Darlington Braves cheerleader, Samantha Beaudette had gone to a sleepover at a friend’s house the night of the accident.

She was supposed to stay there, but the friend was dating Kellie Woodbine’s boyfriend’s son. They went to the boyfriend’s apartment at 688 Broadway, where, Regine said, there was a party because Woodbine had just moved.

Woodbine returned from her new apartment and started to drink, Regine said in court yesterday. Sometime after midnight, she borrowed a 2003 Chevy Avalanche belonging to her boyfriend’s sister so she could drive to a store to buy cigarettes.

At 12:40 a.m. on Dec. 30, 2005, Woodbine was driving north on Route 95 between Exits 29 and 30 in Pawtucket –– “the so-called S-curve,” Regine said. Beaudette was beside her on the front seat.

As the pickup truck entered the S-curve, Woodbine lost control of the vehicle, Regine said, entering the low-speed breakdown lane, striking the jersey barrier and going into a skid.

The accident occurred near the bridge abutment that carries Broadway over Route 95 in Pawtucket. The pickup truck traveled 75 feet before striking the bridge abutment. The speed on impact, recorded by the vehicle’s crash data recorder, was 95 mph, Regine said.

“The vehicle immediately burst into flames. It was engulfed in fire,” Regine said. “The passenger, Samantha Beaudette, died as a result of the injuries she sustained in the crash.”

Regine made the statement in court, after Judge Pfeiffer asked him to recite the facts of the case.

In the spectator section, Samantha’s 20-year-old sister, Kaily, wept quietly. Woodbine, asked by Pfeiffer whether Regine’s account of the accident was accurate, said that it was.

Woodbine was badly burned in the accident. Her face is still disfigured.

The case has been repeatedly delayed as she underwent skin-graft surgeries. DiLibero said there have been eight such surgeries, with another scheduled for July 31.

Samantha’s mother was asked outside court whether the injuries Woodbine suffered weren’t punishment enough.

“In this case, I mean, yeah, you look at her and you feel bad. You do. But she did it to herself. If somebody had done this to her she would have all my sympathy and pity. But she caused it,” Sharon Achorn answered.

Samantha’s mother was also asked whether the eight-year sentence was sufficient, and whether the plea, which had taken so long to negotiate, was a case of justice delayed resulting in justice denied.

“It happened the way it needed to happen to get justice for Sammy,” Achorn answered. “I wouldn’t have wanted it rushed, and if it needed to take this long to get justice for her, then that’s what needed to happen.”

As for the maximum eight-year sentence Woodbine faces, “No amount of punishment would ever make a mother who lost her child truly happy, but I do believe in the judicial system and I am fine with what they offered her,” Achorn said.

jcastell@projo.com