Le Sueur County Judge Imposes $10,000 Donation In DUI Death

The sentence imposed on a man who got drunk at a New Prague sports bar and killed his co-worker in a crash calls for him to donate $1,000 a year for 10 years, and to preach about the virtues of being sober behind the wheel.

36-year-old Jesse D. Brown of New Prague was sentenced on Wednesday in Le Sueur County District Court to a year in jail and will also be on supervised probation for 10 years in connection with the rollover crash in August 2017 that killed 26-year-old Jarrett F. Luethe from Sparta, Wis.

Le Sueur County Judge Mark Vandelist sentenced Brown to spend at least 4,500 hours spread over nine years speaking in public about the perils of drunken driving and work with Mothers Against Drunk Driving or a similar advocacy group. Vandelist also sentenced Brown to pay $1,000 a year for 10 years to a nonprofit chosen by Luethe’s family that is dedicated to combating drunken driving.

Brown has previously pled guilty in October without reaching a deal on what sentence he would receive.

According to the Star Tribune after the crash, Brown told a sheriff’s deputy that he had three shots of liquor and six to seven beers that evening at a sports bar in New Prague. Brown's preliminary breath test put his blood alcohol content at .183 percent — more than twice the legal limit for driving in Minnesota. A blood test hours later found a BAC of .13 percent.