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.
Twin Amur tigers born at Como Zoo in August now have names — Marisa and Maks.
Two long-time volunteers who have worked with zookeepers to care for and teach the public about the zoo’s big cats came up with the names, the first to be born at the St. Paul zoo in more than 40 years.
Marisa, a name that the volunteers found to mean “spirited and tenacious,” call that a perfect reflection of her personality. The name also carries special significance for the Como Zoo community, as it honors a retired zookeeper of the same name who was instrumental in the care of large cats during her 43 years at the zoo, Como Zoo and Conservatory Director Michelle Furrer said.
The male cub has been named Maks, which is associated with meanings like “the greatest” or “strength and leadership.” The volunteers felt this was an apt description of the male cub’s confident demeanor and growing sense of leadership, Furrer said.
“Marisa and Maks aren’t just names; they’re a fun reminder of the passion and care that keep us committed to protecting wildlife every day,” Furrer said.
The newborns and their first-time mother, 7-year-old Bernadette, remain off view to allow for more bonding time, zoo officials said. The cubs’ father, 11-year-old Tsar, has been a Como resident since February 2019 and remains on view.
Fewer than 500 Amur tigers — also known as Siberian tigers — remain in the wild as they face critical threats from habitat loss, poaching and human-wildlife conflict, the zoo said.
Much of the wood waste in the metro area is sent to a processing site near Pig’s Eye Lake in St. Paul, where it is stored before being burned to produce energy at the St. Paul Cogeneration plant downtown.
Cogeneration provides power to about half of downtown and was originally built to manage elm-tree waste in response to Dutch elm disease. The plant burns approximately 240,000 tons of wood each year, according to Michael Auger, senior vice president of District Energy in St. Paul.
Jim Calkins, a certified landscape horticulturalist who has been involved in discussions about the problem, said he thinks using wood for energy is the most logical solution.
“The issue is, we don’t have enough facilities to be able to handle that, at least in the Twin Cities,” Calkins said. “So there has to be dollars to support transportation to get the wood to those places, or in some cases, to upgrade some of those facilities such that they are able to burn wood.”
Plans are in place to convert Koda Energy in Shakopee to burn ash wood, which could potentially handle around 40,000 tons of wood waste, but that would take around two years to establish, according to Klapperich.
In some areas of the state, cities have resorted to burning excess wood waste because they felt they had no other option. Open burning wood releases a lot of carbon into the air, Klapperich said.
Weary from the rat race nature of practicing commercial law, Danielle Miller had long dreamed of starting a new professional life as a bookstore owner. When the Lincoln, Neb., resident saw a space at St. Paul’s Union Depot, she moved to make her dream a reality. She and her husband now call the Macalester-Groveland neighborhood home.
Eye On St. Paul recently visited with Miller in her sun-drenched store, Story Line Books, to talk about what spurred her to leave the law behind and lose herself in shelves of books. This interview was edited for length.
Q: So, you’ve opened a bookstore, in Lowertown. Are you a little crazy?
A: That’s been the reaction. There’s been a lot of “Really? Lowertown?” There’s been a lot of that. It’s a little unnerving.
Q: Why decide to just up and move to St. Paul?
A: We travel a lot; we travel all over the world. And we go to bookstores. We were here visiting [my husband’s] parents in Woodbury, and we drove down Randolph because we like to eat at Due Focacceria. And we saw this building that had “For Sale” on it. It was a 900-square-foot retail spot on the bottom and an apartment above. And I was like, that is the European bookstore dream, right? I looked it up online, but it got scooped up. A week later, I was looking again and this [Union Depot space] was the first post.
I was immediately in love. The next time we were up here, we made arrangements to come and see it. And I told my husband, “You should probably get a job in St Paul.”
Q: Back up a few steps. Why this compulsion to open a bookstore when you were a working attorney?
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