PARIS — Both sides in the case against Kristina Lowe, the driver in a fatal West Paris crash in January, have a week to submit additional information to Justice Robert Clifford as the defense works to keep statements she made from a hospital bed out of court.

Defense attorney James Howaniec filed a motion to suppress what Lowe, 19, told a Maine State Police trooper the morning after the crash. Lowe told the officer she’d been texting at the time of the crash. Howaniec said the teen’s testimony is inadmissible because it had been taken when she had been given strong painkillers and had not been read her Miranda rights.

Lowe is charged with two counts of manslaughter, two counts of operating under the influence causing death, and one count of aggravated leaving the scene of an accident. The crash killed Rebecca Mason, 16, of West Paris and Logan Dam, 19, of Norway. In June, she pleaded not guilty to the charges.

State police have said Lowe was driving 75 mph, had been drinking and smoking marijuana, and was texting on her cellphone when she crashed her car on Route 219 in West Paris in the early hours of Jan. 7.

Howaniec has argued that her 0.04 blood alcohol level wasn’t high enough to have caused the crash, nor was her 75 mph speed. He said icy conditions were to blame.

The state and Howaniec have until next week to submit information to Clifford, who will evaluate it and make a decision on whether to suppress Lowe’s statements.

treaves@sunjournal.com

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