Haverhill, Mass. (AP) - A Massachusetts teenager is the first person in that state to be convicted of causing a fatal traffic accident while texting.
A judge sentenced Aaron Deveau of Haverhill to 2 ½ years behind bars with a year to serve and the rest suspended.
A jury convicted Deveau of motor vehicle homicide and negligent operation while texting in the February 2011 crash that took the life of 55-year-old Donald Bowley Jr. of Danville, N.H., and seriously injured Bowley's girlfriend.
Prosecutors say the then 17-year-old high school student sent 193 text messages the day of the crash, including some just a minute or so before impact and dozens more after it.
Deveau apologized to Bowley's family, but testified previously he wasn't texting when the crash occurred but was thinking about homework.
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