A four-year term is the sentence for a motorist who was drunk, speeding and driving past other vehicles in a no-passing zone when she fatally hit a teenage driver in southern Minnesota.
Drunk, speeding driver who killed S. Minnesota teen gets four years
The woman was passing other vehicles at the time of the collision.
August 15, 2017 at 9:45PM
Cindy L. Mueske, 56, was sentenced last week in Fillmore County District Court in connection with the crash on Jan. 28, 2016, that killed 16-year-old Kaitlyn H. Hansen roughly 10 miles northwest of the teenager's home in Canton.
After Mueske pleaded guilty in May to the one count, all other charges against her were dismissed, including second-degree manslaughter.
With credit for time in jail after the collision, Mueske will serve slightly more than 2½ years in prison and the balance on supervised release.
Mueske, who since the crash moved to Eyota, Minn., from Ashland, Ill., was heading north in her pickup truck on Hwy. 52 between Harmony and Preston about 8:45 p.m. and had her headlight brights on while attempting to pass three times before speeding by two vehicles in a no-passing zone. The move sent one southbound motorist off the road to avoid being hit.
The pickup, while traveling more than 90 miles per hour, struck Hansen's car head-on. The Fillmore Central High School junior was pronounced dead at the scene.
A state trooper found in Mueske's pickup an open bottle with "frozen remnants" of Cayman Jack Margarita, and eight other open bottles of alcohol, according to the criminal complaint.
Soon after the crash, tests administered revealed that Mueske had a blood alcohol level of 0.152 percent, nearly two times the legal limit for driving in Minnesota, the complaint read. Tests also revealed positive results for the active ingredient in marijuana.
Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482
“This was certainly not an outcome that we were hoping would materialize, and we know that today’s path forward does not provide a perfect solution,” interim OCM director Charlene Briner said Wednesday.
