A northern Minnesota man has pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter after being accused of driving drunk at an extremely high speed, crashing his car and killing his passenger.
Manslaughter plea from Red Lake man who killed passenger while drunk and speeding on icy road
A tribal officer testified that driver told him he was traveling 80 to 100 mph on an icy road, lost control at a curve and hit a tree.
June 1, 2023 at 3:14PM
Gerald Wayne Johnson, 27, of Red Lake entered his plea Wednesday in U.S. District Court in connection with the wreck on Nov. 6, 2021, that killed 33-year-old Regina M. Rushman of Ponemah.
While speeding at more than 90 miles per hour in a 20 mph zone, Johnson lost control and crashed the car into a tree, according to court documents. Test results showed that his blood alcohol content soon after the wreck was 0.224%, nearly three times the legal limit for driving in Minnesota.
Johnson remains free on bond ahead of sentencing, which has yet to be scheduled.
According to the plea agreement, federal guidelines recommend a prison sentence ranging from 4¾ to nearly seven years. However, federal judges have full discretion when sentencing defendants and are not bound by the guidelines calculation.
During a court hearing last November, a tribal officer testified that he visited Johnson in the hospital on the day of the crash. The officer said Johnson told him was traveling 80 to 100 mph on an icy road, lost control at a curve and hit a tree.
Johnson said he began drinking late the previous afternoon and continued throughout the night, the officer testified.
Rushman was preceded in death by an infant child, according to her obituary. Her survivors included four children and their father, Chris Hurd.
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