A 54-year-old Woodbury woman intends to plead guilty to striking and killing a man standing on the shoulder of an east metro interstate in exchange for a sentence that includes no prison time.
Brenda L. Hafemann reached the plea agreement Monday in Washington County District Court in connection with hitting Randy Kopesky on Nov. 3, 2019, as he stood next to his SUV and trailer, which were parked on the shoulder of Interstate 94 near the St. Croix rest area.
Kopesky was a former mayor of Lakeland Shores and was serving as a City Council member at the time of his death.
The plea agreement came one day before Hafemann's jury trial was to start. The deal calls for her to admit to criminal vehicular homicide, serve one year in the workhouse, be put on probation for five years and have a four-year prison sentence set aside as long as she doesn't violate the terms of her probation.
During her probation, she will be barred from driving "regardless of license status," the plea document reads.
The terms of the agreement will be presented to Judge Douglas Meslow for his approval at sentencing on Sept. 9.
The felony complaint against Hafemann and other court records spanning many years reveal numerous crashes, driving complaints and citations in Minnesota and Wisconsin. From 2015 until 2019, law enforcement confirmed that Hafemann's vehicle was involved in more than 30 driving complaints or traffic stops. Among them were three nonfatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 before the one that killed Kopesky.
Just days before the I-94 crash, Hafemann was convicted of careless driving stemming from a traffic incident in Woodbury in September 2019.
