An Eagan man was sentenced Friday to about four years in prison for driving under the influence when he ran a stoplight in Apple Valley last year and killed an Ethiopian immigrant studying at the University of Minnesota.
Rebecca F. Yacob, 21, of Apple Valley died after her car was broadsided about 2:30 a.m. by Logan H. McFarland, who was on probation for underage drinking when the crash occurred on Jan. 28, 2007.
Dakota County District Judge John Connolly found McFarland not amenable to probation because of three prior convictions for underage drinking, some involving driving, County Attorney James Backstrom said. In fact, 19 days before the crash, McFarland was put on a year's probation and ordered not to use alcohol, Backstrom noted.
Before being sentenced for criminal vehicular homicide, McFarland, 20, broke into tears as he apologized repeatedly to Yacob's family and said he would change his ways, Backstrom said. McFarland also was fined $600 and ordered to pay an undetermined amount of restitution.
Jacob's father showed pictures of his daughter to McFarland in court. He said his family had emigrated from Ethiopia about 10 years ago to seek freedom and education here. Rebecca was their "cross-cultural educator," a dean's list student preparing to study a semester in Rome.
"Throughout all her adult life she maintained love to all mankind regardless of color," Yacob Fissehatsen said in his impact statement. She brought home friends who were Asian, African, Hispanic, black and white, he said. "She was a very loving young lady who seemed never to know hate. This was my daughter you cut short, and this is her picture."
McFarland had been drinking that night with friends in an apartment, and his blood-alcohol level was more than twice the 0.08 limit for legal driving. He had three passengers, ages 16 to 19, who suffered cuts and bruises in the crash. He also pleaded guilty to two gross misdemeanors of criminal vehicular operation related to their injuries.
With credit for about eight months served in jail and assuming good behavior in prison, McFarland would be placed on supervised release in about two years and four months.
