Driver pleads guilty in fatal crash
Jan. 28—ST. JAMES — A La Salle man who ran a stop sign and killed a St. James man in rural Watonwan County is pleading guilty to criminal vehicular homicide.
Dustin Alan Hagen, 21, pleaded guilty to the felony charge Tuesday in Watonwan County District Court. Other charges were dismissed in a plea deal that proposes he serve some time in jail but no prison time.
Hagen admitted he ran a stop sign before he fatally struck another driver, 53-year-old Keith Allen Moldan, on March 1 at 300th Street and 760th Avenue between St. James and Madelia.
Hagen said he did not stop because he was in a hurry to get home and he never saw other vehicles in that area, according to court documents. A State Patrol crash reconstruction estimated Hagen was going over 80 mph.
A sentencing hearing is scheduled for April 5.
