GREEN BAY (NBC 26) — A 68-year-old Pound woman was sentenced Friday in connection with a Thanksgiving Day wrong-way crash that killed one man and seriously injured two others.
Cheryl Mitchell appeared in Brown County court for a sentencing hearing after being convicted of one count of homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle and two counts of injury by intoxicated use of a vehicle as part of a plea deal. The Thanksgiving Day crash claimed the life of one man and seriously injured both of his parents.
After hearing testimony from the victims’ family members, Brown County Circuit Judge Donald Zuidmulder sentenced Mitchell to 20 years in prison — 12 years of initial confinement followed by eight years of extended supervision — on the homicide count.
Additionally, she was ordered to serve six years for each injury count — four years of initial confinement followed by two years of extended supervision.
Those sentences were ordered to run consecutively, meaning Mitchell will spend 20 years in prison before extended supervision.
According to the criminal complaint, deputies responded to a head-on crash on Interstate 43 near the state Highway 96 ramp around 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. Investigators said Mitchell was driving north in the southbound lanes when her SUV struck a minivan head-on.
One passenger in the minivan — the adult son of the other two passengers — died from his injuries two days later. The other two victims suffered serious injuries.
Deputies said Mitchell showed signs of intoxication and admitted to drinking wine before driving. Prosecutors alleged she refused voluntary testing, so investigators obtained a blood sample through a search warrant. Records show Mitchell has a prior OWI conviction from 1989.
