Chetek woman charged with homicide for death of Boyceville man in Hwy. 25 crash pleads not guilty
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — A 57-year-old Chetek woman charged with homicide after a head-on collision on state Highway 25 near county Highway BB February 25 has pleaded not guilty and a five-day trial has been scheduled for December of 2025.
Barbara Jean McLennan appeared in Dunn County Circuit Court by video with her attorney, Michael R. Cohen, who also appeared by video, on December 17 for an arraignment hearing before Judge Christina M. Mayer.
McLennan is charged with one felony count of homicide by the negligent operation of a motor vehicle.
McLennan entered a plea of not guilty and asked to have a trial scheduled, according to on-line court records.
A pre-trial conference has been scheduled for March 6, 2025, and a final pre-trial hearing has been scheduled for October 2, 2025.
The five-day jury trial is scheduled from December 8, 2025, to December 12, 2025.
A preliminary hearing had originally been scheduled for October 28, but McLennan filed a waiver for the preliminary hearing. Judge Mayer accepted the waiver, found probable cause, bound McLennan over for trial and scheduled an arraignment hearing for December 17.
During a preliminary hearing, a witness or witnesses give testimony, and then a judge determines whether there is probable cause to bind the defendant over for trial.
Bail was set with a $5,000 signature bond during McLennan’s initial appearance on April 9, 2024.
Collision
The crash resulted in the death of a 57-year-old man from Boyceville identified by the Wisconsin State Patrol in a news release as Tony Swanson.
According to the criminal complaint, a trooper with the Wisconsin State Patrol responded to a two-vehicle head-on crash on state Highway 25 near county Highway F at shortly before 1 p.m. Sunday, February 25, 2024.
When the trooper arrived, the Menomonie Fire Department had responded to the scene, and firefighters were blocking traffic on Highway 25 because a maroon Ford F150 pickup truck and a sedan, a gray Pontiac Bonneville, both with severe front-end damage, were positioned across both lanes of traffic, according to the criminal complaint.
When the trooper approached the crash scene, fire department personnel informed him that the man driving the sedan had sustained fatal injuries.
After speaking with other law enforcement officers, fire department personnel, and witnesses on the scene, the trooper concluded that the pickup truck driver had crossed over the center line, traveling southbound in the northbound lane, the complaint states.
Emergency room
The trooper met with McLennan at the emergency room at Mayo Menomonie and read her Miranda Rights prior to asking questions.
McLennan told the trooper she had been driving south on Highway 25 and was approaching Highway BB when three vehicles had pulled out onto Highway 25, also headed south, and said she had been going 49 miles per hour at the time, according to the criminal complaint.
McLennan said when she pulled out to pass, she saw the northbound vehicle and slammed on her brakes and told the trooper she did not think the driver of the Pontiac had even seen her and that she had not observed him slowing down.
Security camera footage showed a white pickup truck headed north on Highway 25 ahead of the gray Pontiac.
After the white pickup truck passes by, the maroon pickup truck appears to be trying to pass southbound vehicles on Highway 25 and is directly in the path of the Pontiac traveling north.
Homicide by the negligent operation of a vehicle is a Class G felony that, upon conviction, carries a possible penalty of a fine of up to $25,000 and/or a prison sentence of up to 10 years.
