Maximum 1 year in jail in fatal drunken driving crash

Published 9:47 pm Monday, October 29, 2018

GRAND RAPIDS — A plea deal for a man accused of driving drunk, crashing his car and leaving a passenger to die in northern Minnesota calls for no more than a year in jail.

Forty-one-year-old Tomas Cuellar of Grand Rapids pleaded guilty last week in Itasca County District Court in connection with the March 2017 crash near Hill City that killed a father of four, Michael Washburn.

Cuellar’s guilty plea to criminal vehicular homicide also calls for 10 years of probation. He’s due to be sentenced Dec. 3. Authorities say that after the crash Cuellar got a ride to McDonald’s in Grand Rapids where he was arrested. Prosecutors allege Cuellar’s blood alcohol content was more than 2½ times the legal limit to drive.

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His criminal history includes three other convictions for drunken driving