Coon Rapids driver who killed teen in '04 faces new felony

Martin Monette wanted to write Amy Francen a letter several years ago. He hoped it would help her heal, but he wasn't forgiving her for killing his 18-year-old daughter in 2004.

Amy Jo Monette and two friends were on their way to the Twin Cities to shop for prom dresses the day that Francen -- under the influence of methamphetamine and amphetamines -- drove into Monette's lane, sending both vehicles crashing into a highway median in Isanti County.

Francen, then 30, pleaded guilty to criminal vehicular homicide and was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison.

Martin Monette never wrote that letter. Now he wonders if it might have done some good.

Francen was in court again this week for a felony drunken driving charge for an accident in a Coon Rapids parking lot in September. Her blood-alcohol level was 0.22, nearly three times the legal limit, according to the charges.

"It upsets me to hear about the new charges, but it doesn't surprise me," Martin Monette said. "Sometimes people have issues and they don't get them fixed unless they want them fixed."

Appearing before Anoka County Judge James Cunningham last Tuesday, Francen briefly discussed attending treatment, but most of the proceedings were behind closed doors. Francen, of Coon Rapids, couldn't be reached for comment afterward, and her attorney, Jerry Mesenbourg, declined to comment.

Sharon Gehrman-Driscoll, a longtime advocate for victims of drunken driving, said it's unusual for someone convicted of killing someone while driving under the influence to be charged later with impaired driving. She said she recalled a Ramsey County case from about eight years ago in which a man killed a teenager and later was convicted of felony driving while impaired.

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman also called such cases unusual, though he said his office recently dealt with one such scenario. A drunken driver who was convicted in the death of a 16-year-old in a 2006 accident pleaded guilty last March to five counts of felony driving under the influence and gross misdemeanor criminal vehicular operation for a 2010 accident that injured two people, Freeman said.

In 2011, Francen filed a motion in Isanti County seeking to expunge the criminal record involving her vehicular homicide case, said Isanti County attorney Jeff Edblad. In the filing, she said she had disclosed the felony in job interviews and was told "she didn't fit the criteria" to be hired, he said. She's also lost housing opportunities because she's a felon, he said.

Francen attended college after her prison sentence, attended treatment for eight months before she filed the motion and was involved in groups for grief and loss counseling and post-traumatic stress issues, Edblad said. Her motion was set for a hearing, but she didn't follow through, he said.

"I've never seen an expungement motion for someone who took somebody's life," he said.

In 2004, he said Isanti and other nearby counties were dealing with a disturbing string of meth-related traffic accidents before Monette's death.

Francen was driving in the right lane on Hwy. 65 south of Isanti County Road 19 about 11 a.m. March 25, 2004, when her Ford Explorer moved without warning into the left lane and hit Monette's Chevrolet Lumina, according to the criminal complaint. Both vehicles rolled onto their roofs, and Francen was ejected. Francen told police that Monette's car encroached into her lane and she had to take evasive action, the complaint said.

In a statement to police, Francen acknowledged that before the crash she had dropped a hamburger on the floor and removed her seat belt to pick it up, the complaint said. Police determined she made an "unsafe change of course."

Monette, a senior at Cambridge-Isanti High School, died later that day at Hennepin County Medical Center. The death of Monette, a cheerleader who was looking forward to going to beauty school after graduation, rocked the community, said Edblad.

"Any time you have a student killed under these circumstances it's like shooting a cannonball through the school," he said. "I taught Sunday school for high school students and recall having to counsel them on the grief process and how this would be handled in the criminal justice system."

"I told them this is how the system works," said Monette. "I know my kids are going to be very irate when they hear she's been charged with a new crime."

Last September, Francen's vehicle crashed into a telephone pole in the parking lot of her Coon Rapids apartment. She told a police officer she'd had four beers at a bar, according to the criminal complaint. A witness said she stumbled through the parking lot after the crash. She then took a case of beer from her vehicle and went into her apartment, the complaint said.

Francen was charged with felony first-degree driving while impaired because of her previous felony conviction from the fatal crash. In 2010, she was cited for having an open bottle in a vehicle.

Monette said his family continues to struggle with Amy Jo's death. She was an intelligent girl who could have done anything she wanted to in life, he said.

The new charges against Francen "just bring all the hurt back up again." She needs help, Monette said. "Everybody makes mistakes and you learn from them, especially at her age," he said. "I don't want her to rot in jail, but I don't want her to kill anybody else."