A Berlin man will serve 18 months in jail after pleading guilty to one felony count in the death of Gavin Knupp, a 14-year-old pedestrian who was struck and killed the night of July 11, 2022.

In Worcester County Circuit Court on Wednesday, Judge Brett Wilson sentenced 24-year-old Tyler Mailloux to 10 years, with all but 18 months suspended, for leaving the scene of the hit-and-run accident that resulted in Knupp’s death.

Before a packed courtroom, Wilson acknowledged the difficulty of sentencing in this case. While noting Mailloux’s lack of a criminal record and the advice he had received from an attorney in the hours after the accident, he said the defendant failed to return to the scene.

“It was a cowardly course of action,” Wilson said.

Upon his release from the Worcester County Jail, Mailloux was also ordered to three years of supervised probation upon his release with several conditions, including that he have no contact with the Knupp family, that he complete 400 hours of community service within the first year, and that he attend a victim impact panel.

During Wednesday’s sentencing hearing, several of Knupp’s family members and friends spoke of Knupp’s character and the impact his death had had on them all.

“Our lives are shattered,” the teen’s mother Tiffany Knupp said, “and most days our lives are hanging on by a thread.”

The judge also heard from Mailloux’s family, as well as Mailloux himself, who claimed responsibility in the role he played in Knupp’s death.

He said he had decided to enter a guilty plea after seeing Knupp’s family members at last month’s motions hearing.

“This is the one thing I have control over to give to you,” he told the family during the sentencing hearing.

Gavin Knupp’s final moments

Shortly before 11 p.m. on July 11, 2022, Mailloux was driving a black Mercedes east on Grays Corner Road when he struck and killed Knupp, who was reportedly returning to a vehicle driven by his older sister. Knupp’s sister, Summer, performed CPR until first responders arrived on scene and transported him to Atlantic General Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

Mailloux fled the scene and did not return. It took a week for Maryland State Police to locate the Mercedes and another 9 1/2 months before 17 charges, including four felony counts, were filed against Mailloux.

Since then, the case has gone through multiple legal battles. In August 2023, Wilson initially dismissed it, ruling that only the district court had the authority to hear it. However, prosecutors appealed, and the Appellate Court of Maryland later overturned that decision, allowing the case to move forward.

The case was ultimately brought back to Worcester County Circuit Court, which had scheduled a 13-day trial to begin March 3.

However, during a motions hearing held less than a week before, a deal was reached between Mailloux and the Worcester County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Mailloux pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident where the driver reasonably knew the accident resulted in death, according to the Maryland Transportation Code. In return, the state’s attorney’s office agreed it would not prosecute him on the remaining charges.

Sentencing guidelines for the conviction are three months to four years. As part of the plea agreement, the state’s attorney’s office recommended a maximum penalty of 10 years, with all but three years and 227 days suspended — or one year for failing to remain at the scene and one day for every day he failed to report.

Assistant State’s Attorney Pam Correa told the judge that Mailloux was not accused of causing the accident but rather accused of leaving the scene. She also argued that Mailloux had hid the car in his family’s garage immediately after the accident and had failed to show remorse for what he had done in the two-plus years the case worked through the court system.

“At every turn, the defendant protected himself,” she said.

While the prosecution argued for a sentence toward the upper end of the sentencing guidelines, Mailloux’s attorney, George Psoras, asked that the sentence be limited to three months. Pointing to the reduced visibility on Grays Corner Road, Psoras identified Mailloux as the driver when he said Mailloux believed he had hit a deer.

“We have what I call the perfect storm,” he said.

Psoras said Mailloux had returned home and had pulled the car into the garage to inspect the damage and that led him to believe what he struck was not an animal. Psoras said his client then returned to the scene to find first responders on Grays Corner Road. From there, he talked to his father, who consulted with an attorney.

“He did what his father and his attorneys told him to do,” Psoras said, pointing to the hours following the accident.

State’s Attorney Kris Heiser said in a statement following Wednesday’s hearing that “no amount of punishment can ever make up for the loss of a life, especially the life of an innocent child.”

“However, prosecutors today advocated for a much longer sentence than what the court ultimately handed down because we believed it was appropriate given the facts of the case, and necessary to deter future hit-and-run accidents,” Heiser said.

“While we respect the court’s decision,” Heiser continued, “we also recognize that it is unlikely to satisfy many in our community who have waited so long for the resolution of this matter. I can only hope that the proceedings today, including the presence of so many of Gavin’s friends and family in the courtroom, will serve as a reminder of how much Gavin is loved and that he will never be forgotten by the community.

“I also want to extend my thanks and gratitude to all those who spoke on Gavin’s behalf at the sentencing hearing, and to the Knupp family for their remarkable patience, determination and strength throughout the entire justice process.”

Bethany Hooper is an Associate Editor with the Ocean City Today-Dispatch.