By JON BAKER

PROVIDENCE — Standing before Superior Court Magistrate William J. McAtee on Thursda, Andrew Bessette — a 17-year-old Lincoln High School senior — pleaded not guilty to two felony counts of driving to endanger.

The charges included one count of driving to endanger/death resulting, and another of driving to endanger/serious bodily injury resulting. Both stem from a car accident that occurred at the intersection of Wilbur and Longmeadow roads in Lincoln back on Oct. 15.
Bessette was released on an undisclosed amount of bail, and must appear at a pre-trial conference at Superior Court on May 28.
In that crash, Marissa Lorea, a 15-year-old classmate and first cousin of Bessette, died at the scene. Another passenger, Amanda Coderre, 16, alleged to be sitting in the back seat, suffered an apparent neck/head injury. Coderre later had been transported to Hasbro Children’s Hospital.
“I’m not surprised by the plea,” said Michael Healey, spokesperson for Attorney General Patrick Lynch. “That’s a standard thing for 17-year-olds.”
Healey added that because Bessette was 17 at the time of the incident, his is considered a “Gap Kids” case. It occurred months after the state legislature changed the law of adult offenders from age 18 to 17.
“Our position (in the Attorney General’s office) all along has been that, when the General Assembly changed the law and
stated 17-year-olds should be prosecuted as adults, it wasn’t a smart move,” Healey said Thursday afternoon. “His case, again, is one of the so-called ‘Gap Kids’ cases. What matters, at least right now, is that he was 17 and two months old at the time of the offense. At this point, he’s still considered an adult.
“When he goes to that pre-trial hearing, it will be the first substantive discussion between the two sides about the case,” he added.