AUBURN — A Windham man who was in high-speed pursuit of a pickup truck that fatally crashed into a car on Route 4 in Turner in 2022 was found not guilty of manslaughter Tuesday.

An Androscoggin County Superior Court jury of nine men and three women deliberated for an hour-and-half before acquitting Curtis Randy Fogg, 35, on the felony charge that is punishable by up to 30 years in prison.

Jurors handed up guilty verdicts against Fogg on a felony charge of reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon — which carries a maximum prison sentence of five years — and criminal speed, a misdemeanor.

Justice Jennifer Archer found Fogg guilty of a charge of aggravated operating after habitual offender revocation, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

After prosecutors rested their case earlier Tuesday, the defense motioned for and Justice Archer ordered the dismissal of a charge of causing death while license suspended or revoked, a felony punishable by up to 10 years in jail.

The jury also acquitted Fogg on the felony charge of leaving the scene of an accident involving serious bodily injury or death.

The two-day trial featured eye-witnesses who gave accounts of the two pickup trucks speeding up Route 4, going 85-90 mph, in the center turning lane on the morning of Dec. 11, 2022.

Others had witnessed the actual crash that killed Carol Ivers, 79, of Fayette, who had just entered Route 4 southbound when her sedan was struck head-on by the other pickup truck, traveling at roughly 110 mph, which pushed her car 200 feet.

Jacob Diaz, 24, of Augusta was driving that other truck.

Diaz was sentenced in December in a plea agreement to serve five years and six months of a 17-year sentence for manslaughter in connection with the crash.

The jury in Fogg’s case also heard a 13-minute interview with Fogg by a law enforcement officer in which Fogg said he had been “pissed off” by the truck that passed him at a high rate of speed.

That was when he had decided to try to catch up to the truck to get its license plate number because its driver posed a danger.

Although Fogg wasn’t driving the truck that hit Ivers’ car, prosecutors explained that Fogg had been charged under something called accomplice liability.

“Accomplice liability essentially says that you can be responsible for the conduct of another person in certain circumstances,” Assistant District Attorney Patricia Mador said.

Fogg’s attorney said the circumstances in Fogg’s case didn’t rise to the level of “accomplice” and it appeared the jury agreed.

Mador said Fogg had pulled over at the scene of the crash, stayed for eight minutes, then left the scene without giving law enforcement any information. It would be two months later before he was found by police and questioned.

Defense attorney Henry Griffin told the jury Fogg had stayed at the scene for 20 minutes, had gone to the aid of the crash victim and held her hand.

Griffin said no one had approached Fogg for information and he didn’t know he was supposed to talk to police.

“He didn’t know they were looking for him,” Griffin said.

During his closing argument to the jury, Griffin said Fogg had pulled back into the travel lane from the center turning lane before the crash.

He said the crash was solely the fault of Diaz, who already was “driving like a lunatic” even before Fogg had pursued him.

Because Fogg was driving illegally without a license to go watch his son’s wrestling match, he hadn’t been looking to draw attention to himself, Griffin said.

But, when the truck passed him at a dangerous speed, Fogg had “made a bad decision” by chasing the truck in an effort to get the license plate number because he “wanted to help,” Griffin said.

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