Steven Bourgoin appears in Vermont Superior Court in Burlington on Monday. He is accused of causing a crash in October that killed five teenagers. Pool photo by Glenn Russell/The Burlington Free Press
Defense attorneys for Steve Bourgoin, 36, filed a motion last week seeking to amend the conditions of his release in an earlier domestic assault case involving the ex-girlfriend. Those conditions include a no-contact order.
They said the request for a visit between Bourgoin and his daughter was made by the child’s mother. VTDigger is not identifying the mother because she is allegedly the victim of domestic assault.
Prosecutors are opposing the request on the grounds that the mother is a witness in the quintuple murder case. “She has information regarding Bourgoin that we could use at trial,” Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George told reporters after a Monday hearing.
Bourgoin is being held at Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield. The state’s attorney’s office argued there is no way to ensure Bourgoin and his ex-girlfriend don’t discuss the pending murder charges, even during a supervised visit, creating the possibility for evidence to be tainted.
The guards don’t know the facts of the case, and therefore may be unaware if elements of the incident were being discussed, and it’s not their job to monitor prisoners’ conversations, said Assistant State’s Attorney Aimee Griffin.
Bourgoin’s attorney, Robert Katims, said the state’s concerns over the possibility for evidence being tainted were “purely speculative” and called the visit a “modest request.”
“This isn’t a situation where we have two people in an alliance with each other, and they’re coming to the court asking for a contact,” Katims told Chittenden Superior Court Judge James Crucitti.
Katims said the mother made the visitation request so their daughter could see Bourgoin. She was not comfortable with a grandparent or another relative supervising the visit, because she wanted to be there to provide support for her daughter, Katims said.
Crucitti did not rule on the motion because the mother was not in court Monday to provide testimony on her reasoning for wanting to be in the room when Bourgoin visits with his daughter. A further hearing on the motion was scheduled for Friday.
If the mother chooses not to attend Friday’s hearing to testify, the defense is unlikely to issue a subpoena compelling her to do so because the request for a visit originated with her, Katims said.
Monday was Bourgoin’s first appearance in court since his arraignment in October from a makeshift courtroom at the University of Vermont Medical Center where he was recovering from injuries. His beard was longer, as was his hair, which hung down over his face.
He has pleaded not guilty to five counts of second-degree murder, aggravated operation of a motor vehicle without the owner’s consent, and gross negligent operation of a motor vehicle.
Bourgoin is accused of driving the wrong way on I-89 without regard for human life before colliding head-on with a car carrying five teenagers from central Vermont, all of whom were killed in that initial crash.
He then allegedly stole a police cruiser from an officer who responded to the scene. Bourgoin is accused of doubling back in the cruiser, after being cut off by police, and slamming the cruiser into the initial crash scene, according to an affidavit supporting the charges.
Bourgoin was found mentally competent to stand trial in December. George said her office has finished reviewing the voluminous evidence in the case and will begin deposing potential witnesses starting with law enforcement.
She said she expects to complete depositions by the end of the year and is hopeful the case can go to trial by February.
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