Sauk County jury finds defendant guilty in I-94 deaths of 2 Dunn County men
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
SAUK COUNTY — A Sauk County jury has found a 58-year-old LaCrosse man guilty on 15 felonies in connection with a traffic crash on I-94/I-90 near Lake Delton in October of 2018 that killed two Dunn County men.
Albart B. Shores was convicted following a five-day jury trial in Sauk County Circuit Court that began on April 19.
Scot Miller, 56, the co-owner of the Whitetail Golf Course south of Colfax, and David Howe, 60, the owner of Menomonie Transportation, died as a result of the accident.
According to news reports, Miller was a passenger in a GMC Yukon driven by Howe. Other passengers in the vehicle were Thomas Millar, age 62, and Richard Schoenke, age 56.
Millar is a retired agriculture teacher from the Colfax school district.
Howe, Schoenke and Millar were transported to the University of Wisconsin Hospital in Madison with serious injuries.
According to a Caring Bridge webpage set up for Tom Millar, Millar suffered a fractured vertebrae, which did not injure his spinal cord, ten fractured ribs, a tear in his ureter between the kidney and the bladder, a knee injury and a nearly-severed foot, which was completely detached from his leg except for the blood vessels.
The other vehicle involved in the crash was a Volkswagen Golf. Occupants of the Volkswagen were a 23-year-old, a 19 year-old, a two-year-old and the 56-year-old driver. None of the occupants in the Volkswagen were injured.
According to the Caring Bridge webpage, the four friends had gone on their annual men’s weekend to Madison where they were attending a Badger game. Scot Miller received a telephone call that his mother was not doing very well, and they decided to leave at halftime and head for home.
Millar was able to draw on a whiteboard that there were two cars in the right lane, and the Yukon in which he was a passenger was in the left lane. The second car on the right pulled into their lane and sideswiped them.
The Yukon went into the median, rolled, and landed in the eastbound lane.
Homicide
According to news reports about the trial, investigators said Shores was under the influence of alcohol and also had cocaine in his system.
Following four days of testimony, the jury began deliberating about 3:30 p.m. April 22 and continued until 6:30 p.m.
The jury returned the following day at 8:30 a.m. and had reached a verdict by shortly before 10 a.m.
Each of the 15 felonies carried a repeat offender modifier.
Shores was found guilty of two counts of homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle; two counts of homicide by the use of vehicle under the influence of a controlled substance; two counts of homicide by the use of a vehicle with a prohibited (blood) alcohol concentration (PAC); two counts of injury by the intoxicated use of a vehicle; two counts of injury by the use of a vehicle under the influence of a controlled substance; two counts of injury by the use of a vehicle with PAC; Operating While Intoxicated (OWI) (7th, 8th, or 9th with a passenger younger than 16 years old); operating with a controlled substance (7th, 8th, or 9th with a passenger younger than 16 years old); operating with PAC and passenger less than 16 years old (7th, 8th, or 9th).
Whitetail
Scot and Bobbie Jo Miller were married in March of 2007, and in November of that year, purchased Whitetail Golf Course from Bobbie Jo’s parents, Lyle and Janet Pelke.
Scot Miller, the son Don and Bede Miller, was inducted into the Elk Mound High School Athletic Hall of Fame in April of 2016. He graduated from Elk Mound High School in 1980.
Scot earned 11 varsity letters in his high school years. In baseball, he was the team’s leading hitter and posted a 24-1 career pitching record on the first Mounder team to advance to the state tournament. He later went on to coach the Elk Mound baseball team to a state championship.
Scot Miller also served on the Board of Directors for the Colfax Health and Rehabilitation Center.
The visitation and the funeral for Scot Miller were held at Elk Mound High School.
The crash that killed Miller and Howe occurred on October 18, 2018, and Allegra “Bede” Miller passed away on October 25, 2018.
Don Miller, who served as village president in Elk Mound for 14 years, died in August of 2018.
Sentencing
Shores is scheduled for a sentencing hearing at 1 p.m. September 30 in Sauk County Circuit Court before Judge Patricia A. Barrett.
Following the jury’s guilty verdict on April 23, Judge Barrett revoked the $15,000 cash bail set in the case and ordered Shores to be taken into custody.
Bail was set at $15,000 cash August 13, 2019, with conditions that Shore must report between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. to the Sauk County Sheriff’s Department every weekday for providing a PBT (preliminary breath test), unless he was able to transfer to LaCrosse County.
Shores also was ordered as a condition of bail to maintain absolute sobriety from alcohol and controlled substances, unless with a valid prescription. In addition, Shores was ordered not to go to bars, taverns, liquor stores or any place where the primary sales are from alcohol.
Any random drug testing also was at Shore’s expense.
Judge Barrett set the sentencing 90 days out to allow time for a pre-sentence investigation (PSI).
