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Driver in 2019 triple-fatal Acadia crash pleads guilty

Praneeth Manubolu pleaded guilty to 3 counts of manslaughter in connection with the fatal August 2019 crash on the Park Loop Road.

BANGOR, Maine — Editor's note: The video above aired Sept. 16, 2021.

Months after a federal appeals court reversed a judge's decision to bar a blood test from being used as evidence in a deadly Acadia National Park crash, the driver in that crash has changed his plea to guilty.

Praneeth Manubolu, 30, a foreign national from India who lives in Edgewater, New Jersey, appeared remotely from Atlanta Monday morning to enter a plea of guilty to three counts of manslaughter, two counts of operating under the influence, and one count of unsafe operation in connection with the Aug. 31, 2019, crash.

Judge John A. Woodcock, Jr. accepted his plea and released Manubolu on the same terms pending sentencing.

Manubolu was driving the car that crashed that night on Park Loop Road, killing all three passengers, Lenny Fuchs, 36, Laura Leong, 30, and Zeeshan Mohammed, 27, all of New York City.

Prosecutors said he told police he spent the evening having dinner and consuming multiple shots of alcohol with the three before heading back to a campground in Southwest Harbor.

An investigation into the crash determined that 3.2 seconds before the crash, the vehicle was traveling 76 miles per hour, more than three times the posted speed of 25 miles per hour, prosecutors said.

Manubolu was taken to Mount Desert Hospital following the crash to treat an injury to his face. A blood test later determined his blood alcohol content was .095%, greater than the legal limit of .08%, prosecutors said.

Court documents indicate Manubolu was at first hesitant to and then said he didn't want to give a blood sample, but the officer advised him the law required it.

His attorney, Walter McKee, argued in court documents, "Manubolu's blood never should have been forcibly taken from him, and certainly not by a person who had no authority to do so."

In August 2020, a federal court judge agreed with defense attorneys that the blood test was unconstitutional and ruled the results could not be introduced as evidence in the trial.

But in September 2021, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a park ranger and police acted appropriately in ordering the hospital to draw his blood, the Associated Press reported.

Manubolu was tentatively scheduled for trial the week of Feb. 14, according to court documents, but defense attorney Walt McKee filed a motion on Jan. 20 for a change of plea hearing.

The change of plea was not the result of an agreement with prosecutors. Each count of manslaughter carries a maximum sentence of 8 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

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