La Crosse man sentenced to 66 years in prison for I-94 deaths of 2 Dunn County men
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
SAUK COUNTY — A 59-year-old LaCrosse man found guilty of causing a traffic crash on I-94/I-90 near Lake Delton in October of 2018 that killed two Dunn County men has been sentenced to 66 years in prison and 38 years of extended supervision.
Albart B. Shores, who was convicted following a five-day jury trial in Sauk County Circuit Court in April, appeared for a sentencing hearing before Judge Patricia A. Barrett in Sauk County September 30.
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.
The Sauk County jury found Shores guilty of 15 felonies, including 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).
Each of the counts included the modifier of being a repeat offender.
Reset
Shores’ attorney, Jeremiah Wolfgang Meyer-O’Day, asked the court to reschedule the sentencing hearing to another date, according to online court records.
Meyer-O’Day told the court he had difficulty finding someone to write an alternate pre-sentence investigation report (PSI), and that while he had found someone to write the PSI, the report could not be ready for the September 30 sentencing hearing.
Attorneys representing the State of Wisconsin, Michael X. Albrecht and Rick Spoentgen, said the victims would object to rescheduling the sentencing hearing and would like to proceed.
Judge Barrett said there is no statutory basis for a PSI report, reviewed the history of the case, the times that hearings had been rescheduled, trial dates and new attorneys, and declined to continue the matter to another date.
An initial PSI report had been filed with the court on June 15 of this year.
Sentence
After the victims had made statements to the court, Judge Barrett sentenced Shores to 20 years of initial confinement in the Wisconsin state prison system and 10 years of extended supervision on each of the two counts of homicide by the intoxicated use of a vehicle, to be served consecutively, for a total of 40 years of initial confinement and 20 years of extended supervision.
On the two felony counts of injury by the intoxicated use of a vehicle, Judge Barrett sentenced Shores to seven years of initial confinement and five years of extended supervision on each count, also to be served consecutively, for a total of 14 years of initial confinement and 10 years of extended supervision.
On the count of Operating While Intoxicated (OWI) 7th , 8th or 9th, with a passenger less than 16 years old, Judge Barrett sentenced Shores to 12 years of initial confinement and eight years of extended supervision, also to be served consecutively.
In addition, the judge revoked Shores’ driver’s license for four years and ordered that an ignition interlock device be installed for six years on any vehicle the defendant is operating.
Judge Barrett also ordered that $30,000 in cash bail be applied toward restitution and court costs.
Badger game
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.
According to news reports about the trial, investigators said Shores was under the influence of alcohol and also had cocaine in his system.