Victim's Mother Says Prison Sentence Not Enough

The mother of one of the two young men killed by a drunken driver in Olmsted County says the prison term given to the woman convicted in the crash isn't enough.

 

 

 

 

ROCHESTER, Minn. (AP) - The mother of one of the two young men killed by a drunken driver in Olmsted County says the prison term given to the woman convicted in the crash isn't enough.

Tracy Nelson says state laws need to be changed because a maximum sentence of 5 years and 9 months isn't harsh enough for Sondra Dewerd. The 23-year-old woman was convicted of criminal vehicular homicide in the June 2011 crash that killed Nelson's 18-year-old son, Tyler Hoff, and 22-year-old Emery Van Hook. A third man was seriously injured. Dewerd was intoxicated and driving the wrong way on Highway 14 near Byron when she struck the victims' vehicle.

Nelson says that her life has been shattered and there's no way to pick up the pieces.

(KFGO file photo)

 

AP

   

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