By Geena Monahan—For the North Star Reporter
Joseph Pompei, 52, of Cranston, Rhode Island, has been sentenced to six to 10 years in prison for a 2023 hit-and-run on I-95 in North Attleborough that resulted in the deaths of two people.
Pompei was scheduled to go to trial on Oct. 6, but requested a hearing for a change of plea that took place in Fall River Superior Court on Sept. 19.
At that hearing, Pompei pleaded guilty to two felony counts of motor vehicle homicide by reckless operation and one felony count of leaving the scene of personal injury and death.
Each charge carries a sentence of three to five years in prison, and Judge Renee Dupuis sentenced Pompei to serve both homicide charges concurrently — a sentence of 6 to 10 years at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Lancaster.
Additional misdemeanor charges of motor vehicle homicide by negligent operation and leaving the scene of personal injury were dismissed by Dupuis.
Pompei was also sentenced to five years of probation upon his release.
He was arraigned and entered a not guilty plea on Aug. 29, 2023, in Attleboro District Court, where he was held on $50,000 cash bail. According to the docket, Pompei has received 753 days’ credit for time served.
One of the victims of the hit-and-run, which police responded to on the afternoon of Aug. 28, 2023, was retired state trooper James Griffin, 61, of Providence. Griffin died of injuries related to the crash nearly two months later, on Oct. 6, 2023.
According to the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office, Griffin was driving on I-95 in a white Cadillac Escalade when a gray Buick traveling southbound struck him, causing his vehicle to cross the median into the northbound lanes and crash head-on with a black 2015 Jaguar XJ driven by Randall Ricketts, 58, of Foxborough.
Ricketts was taken to Sturdy Memorial Hospital in Attleboro, where he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.
“Two innocent people lost their lives because of the defendant’s reckless operation of his vehicle,” said District Attorney Tom Quinn in a statement. “The sentence imposed by the court is appropriate for the defendant leaving the scene and the irreparable damage caused to the victims and their families.”