By Lori Ehde
In the moments leading up to his sentence hearing Monday, 20-year-old Mark Duane Lafrenz somberly eyed the motionless legs of Lynette Kemerling in her wheelchair.
Lafrenz, Luverne, pleaded guilty Oct. 7 to criminal vehicular injury, and the reality of what he’d done made for a long wait outside the courtroom door.
Kemerling was paralyzed on Christmas Day last year when Lafrenz’s speeding car rammed into the rear end of the vehicle she was riding in north of Luverne on Highway 75.
Before Judge Timothy Connell delivered the sentence Monday, he asked Lafrenz if he had anything to say for himself.
"I’d just like to say I’m sorry," Lafrenz said, putting his head in his hands on the courtroom table.
He should be, according to Kemerling.
"My life has changed," she told the court. "I will never be the person I was before this accident."
Struggling at times to maintain composure, the Luverne High School graduate talked about how the actions of Lafrenz affected her, her family and friends and her place of work.
"This young man chose many things that led up to Christmas day 2001," she said.
"First, he chose to drive up to 80 mph on a busy holiday. Second, he chose to use meth, which will alter your judgment. Third, he chose not to have proper brakes on his vehicle, which will eventually cause problems. And, last, he decided not to insure his vehicle.
"All of these actions led up to an accident which he must be accountable for."
She and her brother, Harland Kemerling, were on their way home for Christmas when Harland slowed down to allow Roger Erickson in the vehicle ahead of them to make a left turn. It was 11:30 a.m. That’s when they were rear-ended by Lafrenz.
When they were hit, Kemerling’s body was first thrust forward and then backward, the force of her weight breaking the car seat and laying it flat.
Harland was wearing his seatbelt. Lynette was not.
She was partially thrown through a rear window of the van and she remembers skidding through the snow face down as she was dragged by the van.
"I must have known I was flying because I remember grabbing at things. … I really lucked out. I thought I was going to die there," Kemerling, then 44, said in a Star Herald interview in June.
According to Minnesota’s sentencing guidelines, the presumptive sentence for criminal vehicular injury is three years in prison, but Kemerling, and prosecuting attorney Terry Vajgrt had a more creative sentence in mind.
Instead of three years in prison that would end with an abrupt release, they sought punishment that might yield a more positive long-term result.
In a plea agreement prior to sentencing, Lafrenz exchanged three years in prison for only one year in county jail in Worthington.
The conditions of this arrangement are that he spend at least 28 days in in-patient treatment and five years on probation. During that time, he’ll be subject to random blood and urine tests to ensure he’s abiding by the requirements of probation and treatment aftercare.
He must also attend weekly Alcohol Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous meetings and meet regularly with a sponsor.
He must also make restitution to Kemerling of $15,000 over a five-year period.
The idea behind requesting the reduced prison sentence is two-fold, according to Kemerling and Vajgrt: to give Lafrenz a chance to get his life on track, and to ensure he doesn’t pose an immediate threat to society if imprisoned without treatment.
If he violates the conditions of probation following release from jail, he’ll automatically go to prison for 33 months.
In her testimony Monday, Kemerling said she doubted Lafrenz could get better, but said she hoped he would.
"To my knowledge, this young man has not shown any respect for me or my family," she said, pointing out that he violated his bail restrictions and was placed back in jail.
She said both her life and Lafrenz's have changed as a result of that Christmas day accident, but her condition is permanent.
"He has the ability to change and make a better life," she said. "I pray that this punishment is enough to make that change. I do not want his actions to cause pain and suffering to any other individual. … I hope this young man’s friends and family can help him make this change and not let me down."
Judge Connell followed the sentence order with some stern warnings for Lafrenz. "Without this agreement, there is no way you would have not gone to prison for at least 33 months," Connell said.
"I hope you appreciate the remarkable thing she’s done. She’s giving you a chance. I would have sent you to prison, and you need to know if you screw this up, you will go to prison."