24-year-old Green Bay man sentenced to prison for 2023 drunken driving hit and run that killed pedestrian
GREEN BAY – Before getting behind the wheel on a Tuesday afternoon in April 2023, a 23-year-old Green Bay man went to an Oneida casino and downed four drinks in two hours containing the equivalent of about 13 to 14 shots of alcohol.
Then, while driving on West Mason Street, Trevor Scheel fatally struck a woman attempting to cross at 16th Avenue. He then kept driving, only stopping near South Clay Street after he saw police lights, attorneys said at Scheel's sentencing hearing Monday.
The woman, 73-year-old Roselita Helms of Green Bay, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Scheel, now 24, pleaded no contest in April to one count of homicide by intoxicated use of a motor vehicle and one count of hit-and-run involving death. Brown County Circuit Court Judge Tammy Jo Hock sentenced Scheel to 6½ years in prison followed by 6½ years of extended supervision.
"If you had not been under the influence, you should have seen her. You should have stopped," Hock said.
Hock said Scheel drove "like a reckless maniac" before he struck Helms going 58 mph in a 35-mph speed limit zone. He had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.206%, attorneys said. The legal BAC driving limit in Wisconsin is 0.08%.
Scheel's defense attorney Shane Brabazon said Helms was crossing a busy road without properly looking at cars, likely partly due to a large amount of allergy medication found in her system. Brabazon said before Scheel hit Helms, another vehicle had to maneuver around the woman.
"This really was a terrible, unfortunate set of circumstances that happened here," Brabazon said.
Nonetheless, Brabazon said, Scheel still made the "terrible decision" to drive while intoxicated. He said Scheel kept driving after striking Helms because he "freaked out, for lack of a better term."
"I think but for the alcohol, he certainly would have stopped," Brabazon said. "But he didn't."
With Scheel's lack of any prior criminal record and evidence of having good character, Brabazon asked Hock to not sentence Scheel to more than five years in prison, the recommended minimum for OWI homicide cases in Wisconsin.
A Wisconsin statute passed in 2019 made OWI homicides carry a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison, unless "the court finds a compelling reason and places its reason on the record," the law reads.
Both Brabazon and Hock agreed the language of the law is not clear as to what circumstances would be deemed a compelling reason, but Hock said she did not believe a sentence of less than five years would be appropriate in this case.
Brown County Assistant District Attorney Eric Enli noted the similarities between Scheel's case and another Brown County case that had a sentencing Friday, another drunken driving homicide in which the defendant had no prior criminal record. Enli recommended a prison sentence similar in length to the outcome of that case — eight years in prison, followed by 10 years of extended supervision.
"Taking a person's life, it doesn't get much more serious than that," Enli said.
No one in the courtroom Monday delivered victim impact statements or statements attesting to Scheel's character. However, Hock said she read multiple character letters that had been filed on Scheel's behalf.
Scheel gave a statement apologizing "to the victim's family and friends who now have a loved one they will never see again," as well as to other drivers who were on the road while he was driving recklessly, to first responders who attempted to save Helms' life at the scene and to his parents, "whose only son is now incarcerated," Scheel said.
He also said he hopes to one day speak to young people about the consequences of drinking and driving, which his attorney also asked Hock to consider as part of Scheel's rehabilitation.
Hock agreed Scheel could make an impact on preventing similar tragedies from happening in the future by sharing his story to teens. She referenced the "Every 15 Minutes" program put on by some schools in the area and across the country that teaches high schoolers about the effects of choosing to drive while intoxicated through a simulation involving participation from students, their families and the community.
"It might be perfect for them to hear your story as well, coupled with that," Hock said.
Scheel was given the same sentence on both counts, to be served concurrently. He has already served 426 days in the Brown County Jail.
Contact Kelli Arseneau at 920-213-3721 or karseneau@gannett.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter, at @ArseneauKelli.
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: 24-year-old man sentenced to prison for 2023 fatal drunk driving hit-and-run
