A minister and former college professor has agreed to plead guilty to driving drunk while on the wrong side of a Brooklyn Park highway and killing a motorist in a head-on crash as she traveled to her job as a Minneapolis 911 dispatcher.
Richard J.M. Shaka, 73, of Blaine, agreed Tuesday in Hennepin County District Court to admit to one of three counts of criminal vehicular homicide, namely that he was grossly negligent when he caused the nighttime collision on Feb. 17, 2018, with Jenna L. Bixby, 30, on Hwy. 252.
Two other counts of criminal vehicular homicide, including one alleging that he was drunk at the time, will be dismissed ahead of sentencing on May 14. Even with those alcohol-related counts being dropped, Shaka still admitted to being drunk, said county attorney spokesman Chuck Laszewski.
Shaka is making what is called a "straight plea," meaning the prosecution and defense will make their case before Judge Kathryn Quaintance for what the sentence should be.
The County Attorney's Office said Wednesday that it will seek a four-year term with the first two-thirds served in prison and the balance on supervised release.
Emergency personnel who tended to Shaka at the scene disclosed that he "had an overwhelming odor [of alcohol] … emanating from him as he was carried to an ambulance" that night, according to the criminal complaint.
Tests revealed that Shaka's blood alcohol content soon after the wreck was 0.168 percent, more than twice the legal limit for driving in Minnesota.
Bixby's husband, Daniel Bixby, was listening to the emergency dispatch audio that first reported the crash and could hear an officer on the scene report that his wife was "not breathing, unresponsive."
