Guilty plea first step in closing sad chapter

A heartbreaking chapter that left friends, families and members of the public saddened and outraged over the exceedingly slow grind of justice ended Tuesday when Tyler Mailloux, 24, of Berlin pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of the July 11, 2022, accident that claimed the life of 14-year-old Gavin Knupp of Ocean Pines.

The plea, entered during a hearing in Worcester County Circuit Court in Snow Hill, came after the court denied a flurry of defense motions that sought to upend the case. Among them was one asking that the Worcester County State’s Attorney’s Office, which had been chasing Mailloux’s conviction for two-and-a-half years, be removed from the case.

There was a time, as the public’s angry demand for swift justice went unfulfilled, that some residents might have agreed, openly wondering as they did why State’s Attorney Kris Heiser seemed to move so methodically rather than immediately.

The short answer is she could not. This was a case where theoretically knowing what happened on Grays Corner Road that night when a car mowed down the youth and kept on going was not the same thing as proving it.

Without solid corroborating evidence from others who might have been involved, and knowing that a failed prosecution in court would further inflame the public, Heiser, her staff and investigators had to put tiny bits of information together to build a winnable case.

Her office obviously accomplished that, leaving Mailloux little to no legal recourse once the court threw out his defense team’s motions. It took more time to get to that point than the public wanted, and the question of whether the harshness of the punishment is equal to the tragic circumstances will remain debatable.

But Mailloux’s admission of guilt and the sentencing that will follow is something and it may be enough to allow the community to begin the healing process.