Mower County Man Sentenced For His Role In Deadly Crash
Austin, MN (KROC AM News) - A Mower County man who was charged with criminal vehicular homicide after being involved in a deadly traffic accident has been ordered to serve jail time on the anniversary of the crash.
Over a four-year period.
Sentenced Friday was 33-year-old Christopher Stewart of Lansing. He pleaded guilty in June.
Stewart was driving a pickup truck near Austin in 2019 when he crashed into a car driven by 89-year-old William Regner of Austin, who was killed. Stewart was arrested after deputies noticed signs of impairment. A blood test later indicated he had methamphetamine in his system.
According to a court document filed by Stewart’s attorney, the accident report “lists two contributing factors as it claims that Mr. Stewart was manually operating an electronic communication device while Mr. Regner disregarded other traffic signs and failed to yield right-of-way.”
The document says “Stewart agrees he texted prior to driving, used vape prior to driving and had metabolite of methamphetamine in his system at the the of driving but does not agree that he was texting at the time of the collision.”
Stewart was sentenced to a 48 month prison term that will be stayed during his 10-year probationary period. He has also been ordered to perform 100 hours of community work service. And he was ordered to serve 90 days in jail each year over a four-year period starting in 2022.
Each sentence will begin on May 9th - the anniversary of the deadly crash.
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