Enhanced penalty passed by House for repeat drunken drivers who kill someone

Drake Bigler was just 5 months old when he was killed in July 2012 after his family’s vehicle was hit by a drunken driver whose blood-alcohol level registered 0.351, more than four times the state’s legal limit.

Dana Schoen had two previous DWI convictions. He was sentenced to four years in prison, but served less than three years before being let out on work release.

Rep. Chris Swedzinski

Sponsored by Rep. Chris Swedzinski (R-Ghent), HF71 would increase the statutory maximum penalty from 10 years to 15 years imprisonment for any criminal vehicular homicide involving impairment or criminal vehicular operation if the offense is committed within 10 years of a qualified prior driving offense.

A prior offense is defined in the bill as first- or second-degree DWI and criminal vehicular homicide or injury involving impairment.

WATCH Floor debate of the bill on YouTube

Passed 120-0 by the House Wednesday, it goes to the Senate where Sen. Gary Dahms (R-Redwood Falls) is the sponsor.

Swedzinski said Minnesota “trails the pack on this,” noting the penalty in Wisconsin is up to 40 years in prison and South Dakota is our most lenient neighbor at 15 years.

“We understand it’s probably not in those people’s interest to kill someone,” Brad Bigler, Drake’s father, told the House Public Safety and Crime Prevention Policy and Finance Committee in February 2015. “But at the end of the day, when you have repeat offenses and you are making decisions to put yourself in that situation, you have no fear. You have no concern or care for anyone else when you put yourself in that situation, especially doing it multiple times.”

“People make mistakes, but when it happens a second and a third time, it’s a choice,” said Heather Bigler, Drake’s mother.