CHARLESTOWN — A 21-year-old Sullivan County woman will plead guilty in connection with a Route 12 crash two years ago that killed a Claremont paramedic when her car struck his motorcycle and he was thrown into oncoming traffic.
Hailey Martineau, most recently of Morways Park in Charlestown, filed notice in Sullivan County Superior Court that she intends to plead guilty to charges of second-degree assault, a class B felony, and vehicular assault, a class A misdemeanor, under a capped plea deal in which she will serve no longer than 12 months in county jail, according to court records.
Martineau has been out on bail since she was charged in February 2024.
Neither Christine Hilliard, Sullivan County attorney, nor Joe Pierto, Martineau’s attorney, responded to inquiries for comment on Wednesday.
Martineau, who was 19 at the time, was at the wheel of a 2010 Toyota Corolla with two passengers and driving south on Route 12 on the evening of Sept. 19, 2023, when her vehicle struck a motorcycle being operated by Ian Pierce, an EMT with Golden Cross Ambulance.
The collision threw Pierce, 29, into the opposite lane where he was struck and killed by an oncoming tractor trailer, police said at the time.
On Feb. 20, 2024, nearly four months after the crash, Martineau, then 20, was indicated by a Sullivan County grand jury and charged with felony counts of negligent homicide, reckless conduct with a deadly weapon and second-degree assault with a deadly weapon. She was driving with two passengers in a car that had faulty brakes while traveling above the posted speed limit and passing vehicles, the indictments alleged.
The capped plead agreement was entered into the court docket on Sept. 15, three weeks before the case was set for jury selection on Oct. 6. A capped plea is a negotiated agreement between the state and the defendant, which limits the sentence to less than the maximum which could be imposed by law.
The felony counts under which Martineau had originally been charged carry substantially stiffer penalties than the one reached under the deal.
Pierce, the motorcyclist, had relocated only 18 months earlier to the Upper Valley from Michigan, where he grew up and had also worked as a paramedic. He initially went to work for international emergency responder Global Rescue in Lebanon. He later sought out a job with Golden Cross Ambulance — around the corner from his apartment in Claremont — because he missed fast-paced, hands-on rescue work, colleagues and family members said.
“He was always smiling, always in a good mood,” Glen Gardner, a paramedic with Golden Cross who worked shifts with Pierce and bonded with him over their shared Catholic faith, told the Valley News a few days following his friend’s death. “Ian was always positive. He never had a negative thing to say about anyone.”
Ian Pierce’s parents, Bill and Barbara Pierce, when reached on Wednesday declined to comment on the capped plea agreement reached between the state and the defense. They said they will be giving a victim impact statement at the defendant’s plea and sentencing hearing, a date for which is pending.