BY DARRELL HALEN

A Salem man who was drunk when he caused the 2005 collision in Windham that claimed the life of a young Derry woman recently had his prison sentence increased.

The New Hampshire Superior Court’s Sentence Review Board increased Jack Webb’s sentence on a negligent homicide charge from five to 10 years to seven-and-a-half to 15 years.

Webb pleaded guilty last year to three felony charges related to the Oct. 30, 2005, collision that claimed the life of
Katelyn Contraros.

Webb’s blood-alcohol level was almost three times the legal limit when his pickup truck crossed the center line on Route 111 near Rocky Ridge Road in Windham and struck the car being driven by Contraros.

Contraros, who was 19, died from severe injuries the following day at a Boston hospital. Two friends riding in her car were injured.

“We were happy. We were worried he’d get a reduction,” said Debbie Contraros, Katelyn’s mother. But she said the sentence increase “doesn’t bring our daughter back.”

Last November, Superior Court Judge Patricia Coffey sentenced Webb to a total of seven to 18 years in prison: five to 10 years on the negligent homicide charge, and one to four years each on two counts of second-degree assault for injuring the passengers.

Prosecutors had dropped three other charges.

Appearing before the sentence review board in June, Webb’s lawyer, Phil Desfosses, argued for a reduced sentence.

According to a published report, Desfosses said that similar cases resulted in less prison time and cited Webb’s lack of a criminal record.

But the board, instead, increased the sentence. Although Coffey was constrained by a capped plea, the sentence review board is not, Judge Peter Fauver wrote in the panel’s June 21 order.

“The board has determined that the increased sentence as indicated above is warranted under the circumstances of this case,” Fauver wrote.

Fauver joined Judge Larry Smukler in the ruling. Judge William Groff, who would have left the sentences as originally imposed, dissented.

The panel did not change the sentences for assault. Webb will lose his driver’s license indefinitely. With the increased sentence for negligent homicide, Webb’s total sentence is between nine-and-a-half to 23 years.

Contraros said her family wasn’t happy they had to go to the sentence review hearing in Concord to “rekindle everything.”

She said she and her family and the two young men injured in the collision will “never be the same again.”

Rockingham County Attorney Jim Reams, whose office argued against a reduction, was happy with the ruling.

“For the family, we’re glad the legal process is over and they can pick up the pieces of their lives and they don’t have this hanging over them,” he said.

Desfosses is on vacation and was unavailable for comment.

At the November sentencing, Webb expressed remorse for the pain he had caused.

During the hearing, Katelyn’s friends and relatives described her as fun, caring and loving. Friends of Webb’s described him as a charitable and goodhearted man who helped provide food baskets to the needy and helped send underprivileged kids to camp.