Judge convicts man of murder for running over Mounds View woman, 82, as she did yard work

A judge convicted a 63-year-old man of murder for speeding through a no-passing zone on a Mounds View street while high on fentanyl and running over a woman doing yard work in front of her home.

Donald J. Harris of Coon Rapids was found guilty Friday in a bench trial in Ramsey County District Court of third-degree murder, criminal vehicular homicide and illicit drug possession in connection with the crash on May 25, 2021, that killed 82-year-old Mary J. Preciado.

A woman driving south on Long Lake Road told police she saw an SUV speed past her in the northbound parking lane, hit Preciado and flee the scene, the charges against Harris read. A police officer arrived and saw Preciado's body with fresh grass clippings and a broken plastic snow shovel nearby.

Moments later, other drivers reported seeing the heavily damaged SUV swerving and traveling on the wrong side of the road at times before it crashed into a street sign to the west in Spring Lake Park near County Road 10 and Cottagewood Terrace.

Judge Kelly Olmstead wrote in a filing of her verdicts that the prosecution's case against Harris' actions that day met the third-degree murder count's legal requirement of him having a "depraved mind" at the time of the crash.

"Defendant admitted that he knew even before tragedy struck that what he was doing was wrong and dangerous," the judge explained. "His admissions, taken with the manner and [in] the populated areas in which defendant drove after taking illicit drugs, [indicate] an extreme indifference to human life under the circumstances that the court is compelled to conclude that his depraved mind has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt."

Defense attorney Seamus Mahoney wrote in his closing argument that Harris was self-medicating with fentanyl and other drugs to counter years of pain in his lower back from an injury suffered while in the Army more than 15 years ago.

Harris "had unknowingly poisoned himself with [an] incredibly powerful cocktail of drugs, including fentanyl, that quickly rendered him stupefied and without physical control or coordination," Mahoney wrote. "Mr. Harris did not have ... conscious control of the direction of his automobile."

Sentencing for Harris has yet to be scheduled.