Saying he was intimidated into taking responsibility for a fatal drunken-driving crash, a 30-year-old Cushing, Minn., man was sentenced to a month in jail Friday after DNA tests showed that the man authorities believed was the passenger was actually driving.

Timothy Rausch originally confessed to driving the vehicle that killed Ryan DeZurik, 19, who was six miles from his home in Holdingford when a white Humvee crossed the center line and plowed into his Toyota Corolla on a rural stretch of County Road 17 last Aug. 16. Rausch and Eugene Rivetts were out of the Humvee when authorities arrived at about 10:30 p.m. Rausch initially told officers he had swerved to dodge a deer. Tests put his blood alcohol level at 0.346, four times the legal limit.

After DNA tests matched blood and skin tissue found on the driver's side of the Humvee to Rivetts, Stearns County prosecutors dropped vehicular homicide charges against Rausch. He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of aiding an offender to avoid arrest Friday in St. Cloud. He was sentenced to 35 days in jail, fined $900 and given two years of probation.

Rivetts, 42, has since moved to Illinois and has not been charged. But Assistant Stearns County Attorney Will Brost said Rausch has agreed to testify against Rivetts and he "anticipates charges in due course."

According to an amended complaint, Rausch said he and Rivetts "had consumed alcohol at a number of locations" that night. Rivetts was behind the wheel of the Humvee owned by his wife. Rausch said he was asleep until the crash woke him. When the Humvee stopped in a ditch, Rivetts repeatedly told Rausch that he "needed to say he was driving and Rivetts was not," according to the complaint.

Rausch didn't know the Humvee had collided with another vehicle or that DeZurik was dead.

Rausch "felt intimidated by Rivetts and accepted responsibility of driving when confronted by law enforcement at the scene," the complaint said.

Rausch had no criminal history before the crash; Rivetts has a lengthy record. Rausch's attorney, Tom Beito, said his client "is happy to put the case behind him, sad for the DeZurik family and will do whatever he can to bring Rivetts to justice."

Sherrie DeZurik, Ryan DeZurik's mother, has said the family suspected all along that Rivetts was driving, and they're willing to be patient as they wait for justice in the case.

Curt Brown • 612-673-4767