Star Tribune
Edina family that lost loved one blesses merciful plea deal for driver who made a ‘tragic mistake’
An Edina family that lost a loved one in a multi-vehicle crash is giving its blessing to a proposed merciful sentence for the woman whose “tragic mistake” caused the deadly wreck on a southern Minnesota interstate.
Kaytlen P. Greenlee, 25, of Adams, Minn., and the Rice County Attorney’s Office reached a plea agreement this week that spares her a likely four-year sentence under state guidelines, which would have meant about 2 2⁄3 years in prison.
And those closest to Michael Rae Bendel-Stenzel, the 55-year-old man who died in the crash in September 2020, say they are content with the potential consequences for Greenlee, who will hear on July 21 whether Judge Jeffrey Johnson agrees and imposes the terms of the plea deal. Johnson said in court Wednesday that he was likely to adopt the the agreement as crafted.
In a statement released Thursday, the family said Bendel-Stenzel’s death “has been a tremendous loss to the family, but they do not see the need to ruin the defendant’s life as well. It was a tragic mistake on [Greenlee’s] part, but we support the county attorney’s work on the plea agreement in the case.”
Rather than prison for her guilty pleas to criminal vehicular homicide on the basis of gross negligence and criminal vehicular operation, Greenlee agreed to serve 30 days of electronic home monitoring every August during her five years of probation.
County Attorney Brian Mortenson said cases such as these require prosecutors to weigh the victim or their family’s wishes vs. an uncertain result from a trial.
“The outcome [in this case] is appropriate in light of the circumstances,” said Mortenson, who cautioned that violating the terms of the probation would risk Greenlee being sent to prison.
“I thought it was very merciful” how the family took into account the fate of the driver who was responsible, Mortenson added.
Cases of criminal vehicular homicide are more commonly filed in Minnesota when drug use, drunkenness or distracted driving are involved. There was no evidence of those factors in connection with this crash, according to the County Attorney’s Office.
According to court documents and the State Patrol:
Late in the afternoon on Sept. 25, 2020, Greenlee was heading south in her SUV on I-35 about 7 miles west of Northfield, and failed to obey signs warning drivers of the road work ahead and that traffic ahead was stopped or slowed.
Greenlee hit Bendel-Stenzel’s Mini Cooper, setting off a chain reaction that involved two more vehicles.
Greenlee said she tried to slow down, but an analysis of her SUV’s “black box” showed it was traveling at least 74 miles per hour in a 70 mph zone and the brakes were not applied during any of the final 8 seconds before impact.
Bendel-Stenzel’s wife, 56-year-old Ellen Bendel-Stenzel, and their 23-year-old son, Linus Bendel-Stenzel, were passengers in the compact car, which ended up on its side and on fire. She suffered broken ribs and a tear in her thoracic aorta that required emergency surgery. Their son was cut and bruised.
Greenlee’s passenger, 28-year-old Megan R. Koch, of Austin, Minn., survived her injuries. The two were on their way back from a visit to the Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley.
The drivers in the other vehicles and one passenger were not hurt.
The Bendel-Stenzels were heading to Iowa to see their daughter, Lilly, according to Michael Bendel-Stenzel’s obituary.
Michael Bendel-Stenzel received a degree in 1992 from the University of Minnesota Medical School. He later became an associate professor of pediatrics at the university.
Since 2008 until his death, he worked at Minneapolis Children’s Hospital as a hospitalist, where “he was known for his wide array of bow ties and his knowledge, skill and kindness to his patients and their families,” the obituary read.
Four days before his death, the Bendel-Stenzels bought a home in Rochester, where Ellen joined the Mayo Clinic as a neonatologist.
Star Tribune
Former Hubbard County official, school bus driver gets six-year sentence for sex crimes against students
A former Hubbard County commissioner and school bus driver was sentenced Friday to six years in prison for sex crimes involving minors.
Daniel J. Stacey, 60, was charged in April 2023 with criminal sexual conduct and electronic solicitation of a minor, both felonies, in Beltrami County District Court. He was then charged in November with nine additional felony counts related to criminal sexual contact with a minor.
Stacey pleaded guilty in June to four felony counts as part of a plea deal that dropped the remaining charges. His attorney, Joseph Tamburino, declined to comment Friday on the sentence, and officials with the Nevis school district did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment.
Stacey resigned from the Hubbard County Board in January 2023 and was placed on leave from his school bus job during an investigation by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) that began after the parent of a Nevis student filed a complaint.
In an email Friday, Hubbard County Administrator Jeffrey Cadwell said he had no comment other than that Stacey’s actions “did not occur within the course and scope of his duties with the County and the County was completely unaware of them.”
According to a criminal complaint, Stacey offered to mentor a 13-year-old male on his bus route. He brought the boy to his property, asked him to watch pornography and tried to touch him in a sexual manner, court documents state.
The boy told investigators that Stacey told him not to tell anyone, and helped him rehearse what to say about doing chores at his property. Investigators said they found footage showing times Stacey would deactivate the school bus camera when the boy was the only student left on the bus.
A second criminal complaint outlines similar allegations against Stacey with a minor who was 14 years old.
Star Tribune
Woman charged as investigation into attack on north Minneapolis homeless shelter continues
A 33-year-old woman has been charged with two felonies in connection with an attack on a north Minneapolis homeless shelter that forced 54 women and children to relocate last week.
Eureka D. Riser, 33, of Minneapolis, is charged with second-degree rioting with a dangerous weapon and first-degree damage to property, according to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office. She was in custody Friday, a day after Minneapolis police confirmed her arrest.
Riser, also known as Eureka Willis, is alleged to have been in a group of at least three people who on Sept. 5 went to St. Anne’s Place, 2634 Russell Av. N., and threatened residents, smashing doors with a baseball bat.
Residents were forced to vacate the shelter, leaving it boarded with plywood and watched over by armed security. Building managers estimate that property damage amounts to more than $10,000, according to the county attorney’s office. Additional charges may be brought against others involved.
“This violent attack on some of our most vulnerable community members, unhoused women and children, in a place where they had gone to seek shelter and safety cannot be tolerated,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said in a statement.
Hoang Murphy, the CEO of People Serving People, which operates the shelter, said earlier this week that the four-hour episode was the culmination of an argument between shelter residents and neighbors over street parking that started days earlier and spilled over into violence.
According to the criminal complaint, which cites surveillance footage, Riser allegedly swung a baseball bat against the shelter’s doors, shattering glass while residents were inside. Another member of the group pointed what appears to be a gun at the front door of the building, the complaint says.
Residents have since been relocated to a hotel for safety reasons, costing People Serving People $9,000 a night — a figure that Murphy called unsustainable.
A man who was shot and wounded by sheriff’s deputies in east-central Minnesota while resisting arrest received a six-month jail term Friday.
Leo H. Hacker, 71, was sentenced in Pine County District Court in connection with his guilty plea in two cases of assault, and obstructing and fleeing law enforcement in connection with his clashes with deputies in February 2023.
Hacker’s sentences will be served concurrently and includes Judge Jason Steffen setting aside a three-year sentence sought by the County Attorney’s Office. Steffen’s terms also include five years’ probation and community work service.
According to the charges in each case and related court documents:
On Feb. 21, deputies tried to pull over Hacker’s pickup truck on a gravel road about a mile from his Pine City home. As two deputies approached his vehicle, he drove toward them. Both deputies opened fire on Hacker and wounded him.
Hacker was wanted at the time on charges of second-degree assault and obstructing law enforcement in connection with allegations that he pointed a gun at a deputy outside his home on Feb. 14 and angrily defied orders to drop the weapon.
At one point, Hacker warned the deputies that if they did not leave, he would return with “something bigger,” the charges quoted him as saying.
The deputy was there to seize Hacker’s SUV stemming from a dispute over his unpaid attorney fees, the charges read. However, law enforcement outside the home “determined that based on the totality of circumstances, it was in the interest of safety to leave the scene at that time” and instead seek a warrant for Hacker’s arrest, the criminal complaint continued.
Eye on America: Museum honors Capt. Sully, and a look at how smokejumpers fight fires
How to watch the Colorado vs. Colorado State NCAA college football game today: Livestream options, more
How to watch the San Diego State vs. Cal NCAA college football game tonight: Livestream options, more
Eye on America: Museum honors Capt. Sully, and a look at how smokejumpers fight fires
How to watch the Colorado vs. Colorado State NCAA college football game today: Livestream options, more
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings