A driver who was high when he ran a red light in Minnetonka, killing a grade school educator heading to work, has been sentenced to the maximum allowed.
Darvin R. Basche, 51, of Apple Valley, was sentenced Wednesday by Judge Gina Brandt to 6¾ years in prison in what Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said was the strongest punishment permitted under state guidelines for driving under the influence and killing someone.
With credit for two months in jail, Basche will spend slightly more than four years in prison and then serve the rest of his sentence on supervised release. At sentencing, Basche's lawyer had asked for no prison time and probation.
Basche pleaded guilty in January to being high on methamphetamine and other narcotics when he struck Elizabeth P. Ketcher, 58, of Burnsville, on the morning of Sept. 24, 2013, at the intersection of Hwys. 101 and 7.
Ketcher was on her way to her new job as a paraprofessional in Chinese language immersion at Excelsior Elementary School. She had emigrated from Taiwan, married and raised three children.
Basche's criminal history in Minnesota includes convictions for drug possession, drunken driving and having an open liquor bottle in a vehicle.
On the morning of the crash, Basche was driving his employer's large pickup northbound on Hwy. 101. Ketcher's compact car, westbound on Hwy. 7, entered the intersection on a green light and was hit on the driver's side door by the pickup.
Paul Walsh
