'I pay for it emotionally and physically every day': Man sentenced in OWI serious injury crash

Don Reid, Coldwater Daily Reporter
·3 min read
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BRANCH COUNTY — A 34-year-old Fort Wayne man was sentenced Monday to 39 months to five years in prison after pleading no contest to a charge of operating while intoxicated, causing serious injuries.

Investigators have said Evan Kerr ran a stop sign at Copeland Road and South Fremont Road in California Township, hitting a vehicle driven by James Wagenknecht, 73, of Hamilton, Indiana April 2, 2021. Police said Kerr had methadone and marijuana in his blood.

Katherine Wagenknecht showed the court a picture of her husband healthy before the crash.
Katherine Wagenknecht showed the court a picture of her husband healthy before the crash.

Kerr pleaded no contest in a plea bargain for a maximum of 18 months in prison but failed to appear for sentencing on May 8, voiding the agreement.  Indiana Police tracked him to a friend's home in Fort Wayne for failing to appear.

Wagenknecht's wife of 36-years, Katherine Wagenknecht, read a list of medical issues her husband suffered over the last two years. A shattered pelvis, ruptured bladder, damaged kidneys, and head and eye injuries that will require continued medical care for years. The first two months after the crash, the family considered removing life support.

Prosecutor Zack Stempien said he was told Kerr would run by Indiana police.

“He’s afraid to go to prison, so he’s going to run out west. My victim cannot run from his injuries. But (Kerr) was going to run to get away from the results of the thing he caused himself," Stempien said.

In a letter to the court, Wagenknecht asked for the maximum sentence.

“I pay for it emotionally and physically every day. I think it’s only fair that Mr. Kerr pay for this and that is not just brushed aside,” his wife read from his letter.

Stempien asked for the maximum under the Department of Corrections sentencing guidelines.

“These injuries are far beyond what the sentencing guidelines considered," he said.

Even Kerr apologized before he was sentenced in the Branch County Circuit Court.
Even Kerr apologized before he was sentenced in the Branch County Circuit Court.

Judge Bill O’Grady said the Kerr case was compelling to sentence the maximum. He believed five years was not enough.

“It would almost be nice if the legislature was able to hear what you said when they set a limit of five years on OWI - causing serious injury. Those words alone don’t contemplate what your husband and you had to go through,” he told Katherine Wagenknecht.

O’Grady added, “There’s an incredible amount of devastation, an incredible amount of destruction in this case. And it’s clearly all absolutely unnecessary.”

Kerr admitted using Methadone two hours before the 8 a.m. crash. He said he used marijuana the night before, according to police reports.

Kerr’s pickup was eastbound on Copeland Road when it failed to stop and hit the northbound Chevrolet Tahoe in the driver’s door. The impact catapulted Wagenknecht out of the SUV.

Damage to the two vehicles on April 2, 2021, at Copeland and Fremont Roads.
Damage to the two vehicles on April 2, 2021, at Copeland and Fremont Roads.

Kerr told investigators he did not see the stop sign. Shortly after the crash, the Branch County Road Commission installed a solar-powered red flashing sign at the intersection where cross traffic does not stop.

There are now 14 such flashing signs in Branch County.

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O’Grady invited an appeal of the sentencing. DOC guidelines set a maximum of 38 months for the minimum sentence.

State law allows a judge to set a minimum of two-thirds of the maximum, his 39 months. “I know it's only a month’s difference.”

---Contact Don Reid: dReid@Gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DReidTDR

This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: Man sentenced in California Township OWI serious injury crash