SNOW HILL, MD - A Worcester County Circuit Court Judge has sentenced 24-year-old Tyler Mailloux to ten years with all but 18 months suspended in connection to the hit-and-run death of Gavin Knupp in 2022.
After those 18 months active jail time, Mailloux will serve 3 years probation.
On February 25, Mailloux pleaded guilty to “failure to remain at the scene of an accident resulting in death, having known or should reasonably have known that the accident might result in the death of another person and death actually occurred to another,” a felony.
Mailloux sentencing courtroom sketch by Stewart White for WBOC
The charge carried a maximum of 10 years, though prosecutors recommended he receive the maximum with all but 3 years and 227 days suspended.
Should Mailloux violate probation following his sentence, he would be subject to the full 10-year sentence.
Mailloux will have to serve 400 hours of community service within the first year of his release, according to the judge's sentence.
Worcester County Circuit Court Judge Brett W. Wilson handed down Mailloux's sentence on March 19 after nearly a three hour-long hearing. Throughout which, Wilson heard arguments from the Worcester County State's Attorney's Office as well as Mailloux's attorney, George Psoras Jr.
Pamela Correa with the State's Attorney's Office spoke first on Wednesday morning.
State's Attorney's Office Argument:
The state does not allege that Mailloux caused the accident, and Correa said that is not why he was in court on Wednesday. Correa said Mailloux was in court because of the actions he took afterward.
By leaving the scene and not coming forward immediately, Correa argued Mailloux had caused unnecessary grief for the Knupp family and the community that rallied around the Justice For Gavin movement.
That's why the state recommended a sentence of 3 years, 227 days:
- One year for Mailloux's failure to remain at the scene
- One day for every day Mailloux didn't come forward
Correa said Mailloux was the only person who could end the family's suffering and that he actively chose not to.
The state then centered its argument for sentencing around three main points: deterrence, punishment and rehabilitation.
Deterrence:
- Correa argued Mailloux had an affirmative obligation to contact law enforcement.
- She said driving is a privilege, not a right, and that privilege comes with responsibility.
- She argued a heftier sentence would deter Mailloux and others who find themselves in a similar scenario from fleeing the scene.
Punishment:
- Correa argued Summer Knupp was also a victim, left alone to tend to her dying brother on the side of the road.
- Correa mentioned Summer's 911 call, in which Summer told the operator she didn't want to get out of the car and was too scared.
- Correa then circled back to Mailloux's decisions after the accident.
- Correa said Mailloux stopped going to work and changed his phone number.
- At every turn, Correa said Mailloux chose to protect himself.
Rehabilitation:
- Correa assessed Mailloux's decision-making further, noting that he felt sympathy and remorse, but only after seeing the Knupp family speak at the motions hearing on Feb. 25th.
- She said Mailloux made not just one bad decision in the heat of the moment but several bad choices over the course of two and a half years.
- That led to several milestones(birthdays, holidays, celebrations) passing where the Knupp family had no answers about what happened to Gavin.
Victim Impact Statements:
After Correa finished speaking, friends and family took the court floor, one by one, reading aloud prepared speeches. Friends noted that Mailloux had taken the "heart and soul" of their lives and that Mailloux had stolen Gavin's future.
Family and Friends:
Friends discussed the difficulty of sharing the news and said they hope Mailloux never has to feel that pain.
One of Gavin's friends said Mailloux showed no sympathy or signs of being a "decent human being" and continued to live his life while Gavin's friends and family were left to grieve.
The emptiness of holidays was brought up several times, and family members mentioned how those days of celebration will never be the same.
Defense:
George Psoras Jr., representing Mailloux, started his arguments by, in his words, correcting the facts.
According to Psoras, Mailloux was working on the night of the accident, clocked out, and took Gray's Corner road to get home.
A big part of Psoras' argument was the conditions of Gray's Corner Road back in 2022. He noted that in 2022, the speed limit was still 50 mph, there were no street lights, and with no homes or businesses, Mailloux had no reason to think anybody would be walking on or alongside the road.
Psoras' likened it to somebody walking on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.
He also noted the accident reconstruction showed Mailloux was not speeding when he hit Gavin.
It also came up that Mailloux had a history of hitting deer, and Psoras argued it was reasonable for Mailloux to have assumed that's what happened, given the desolate nature of Gray's Corner Road.
Mailloux also called his girlfriend, who was driving behind him, and asked if she had seen anything he had hit. She said she didn't see anything, according to Psoras.
Timeline: According to Psoras
- Mailloux then parked his car in the family's garage, inspected it, saw damage and then made his way back to Route 50
- At that point, Mailloux saw emergency vehicles on the scene.
- That led Mailloux to believe he didn't hit a deer and instead hit a person.
- Mailloux then woke his father up, told him what he believed happened, and his dad immediately began making phone calls to lawyers.
- Based on advice from one of those attorneys Mailloux and his dad stayed home instead of making their way back to the scene off of Route 50
- The next morning(July 12th, 2022), the family called Psoras.
- Psoras said he immediately called the highest law enforcement officer in Worcester County: State's Attorney Kris Heiser.
- Heiser, according to Psoras returned his call later that afternoon.
- Psoras argued the accident was reported within 12 hours.
Psoras' main point was that Tyler did not delay, he only did what his dad and lawyers were telling him to do.
Psoras' said there are no bad guys in this situation, it boils down to a tragic accident and that Mailloux has owned up to this since the beginning.
Ultimately, Psoras' point is that Mailloux is not responsible for Gavin's death; he is, however, responsible for not going back to the scene of the accident.
That's how Judge Brett Wilson saw this, too.
Judge Brett Wilson's Decision Making Process:
- Wilson praised the family and friends on both sides for being cordial.
- He said he was impressed by the Knupp family's ability to testify with a neutral approach at the motions hearing on Feb. 25
- He said sentencing is one of the most difficult decisions a judge can make
- Wilson said judges, too, have feelings and common sense when making their rulings.
- He mentioned his 16-year-old son was killed in a car crash.
- Wilson noted that the male brain is not fully developed until the age of 25(Mailloux was 22 at the time of the accident)
- Wilson looked at the three points made by the State's Attorney Office(punishment, rehabilitation and deterrence) and said punishment, in his mind, was the least important.
- He was more focused on rehabilitation and making sure Mailloux would never do something like this again.
- Wilson pointed out that Mailloux's actions were cowardly, selfish, and self-serving.
- He said if Mailloux had intervened after the accident, it's possible he could have saved Gavin's life.
- Wilson said having two people on the scene to render aid before paramedics arrive can make a big difference.
- Mailloux's fight-or-flight mode kicked in, and he chose flight, an understandable choice given his age, according to Wilson.
- Wilson also considered Mailloux's character throughout the legal process, his lack of priors, and the fact that Tyler cannot erase the mark he's left on the Knupp family and their friends.
This led to Wilson's decision to sentence Mailloux to 10 years, with all but 18 months suspended.
The Knupp family, through their attorney, expressed their frustration and disappointment with the sentence to WBOC.
"They're extremely disappointed with the sentence that was imposed today by Judge Wilson and some of the reasoning provided by the court in issuing its sentence," said Neil Dubovsky, representing the Knupp family.
Dubovsky said the family certainly disagrees with the sentiment that Mailloux is not at fault for what happened.
"We absolutely believe that Tyler was at fault for this accident and there will be additional accountability coming through a civil lawsuit against Tyler for those actions," said Dubovsky. "We do not concede or agree in any way shapeor form that somehow fault of this accident belongs with anybody other than Tyler Mailloux."
Gavin Knupp was killed in a hit-and-run on July 11, 2022 near Berlin, prompting a years-long search for justice. Mailloux was initially charged in May of 2023 in connection to the fatal crash, though the case was fraught with legal twists and questions of jurisdiction reached Maryland’s highest court.
Following the sentencing, State's Attorney for Worcester County Kris Heiser released the following statement:
“We recognize that no amount of punishment can ever make up for the loss of a life, especially the life of an innocent child. However, prosecutors today advocated for a much longer sentence than what the Court ultimately handed down because we believed it was appropriate given the facts of the case and necessary to deter future hit-and-run accidents. While we respect the Court’s decision, we also recognize that it is unlikely to satisfy many in our community who have waited so long for the resolution of this matter. I can only hope that the proceedings today, including the presence of so many of Gavin’s friends and family in the courtroom, will serve as a reminder of how much Gavin is loved and that he will never be forgotten by our community. I also want to extend my thanks and gratitude to all those who spoke on Gavin’s behalf at the sentencing hearing, and to the Knupp family for their remarkable patience, determination and strength throughout the entire criminal justice process.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.