MONROE - Several items of evidence were entered Thursday at a preliminary hearing for Maquita Stokes, 31, Rockford, to show proof that alcohol was involved in a crash that killed an 81-year-old Browntown man in August.
District Attorney Gary Luhman had medical documents released to the Green County Sheriff's Department shown in Green County Circuit Court displaying a prohibited blood alcohol content for Stokes exceeding .08 percent, which were entered into evidence.
Stokes is charged with two Class D felony counts, one for homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle and one by homicide by use of a vehicle with a PAC. She also faces three charges of Class F felony counts of injury by intoxicated use of a vehicle, and injury by use of a vehicle with PAC.
Stokes is scheduled for an arraignment hearing on March 6.
The homicide charges are for the death of a driver, Antone C. Grawehr. The injury charges are for Grawehr's wife Alma, 82, who sustained a wrist fracture in the crash, and for Stokes' passenger Charlotte M. Jones, 41 whose arm was fractured.
According to court records, the Grawehr's were on their way home from their son's wedding in Milwaukee shortly after 10 p.m. traveling westbound on Wis. 81 just south of Brodhead, when Stokes' eastbound SUV swerved over the center line and collided head-on with the Grawehr's silver Dodge Caravan.
Antone Grawehr died on scene due to cardiac arrest after the force of the crash crushed his legs, broke his ribs, fractured his pelvis and left him with multiple lacerations and head injuries.
Stokes was also seriously injured and was flown by Medflight helicopter to a Rockford hospital. At Thursday's hearing, Stokes used the elevator to reach the second floor of the building and required the use of a cane to move around.
Sheriff's deputy John Schuetz gave testimony that he met Stokes in Rockford Hospital more than three hours after the crash and had hospital staff administer a blood test. These results would later be contested by defense attorney Guy Taylor, citing an old statute that limits the amount of time that a blood test must be administered before the three-hour mark, but the results were still entered into evidence.
Testimony was also heard from Sheriff's detective Chris Fiez who said he met with Stokes several days following the crash. He said he received Stoke's consent to view her medical records, which included a blood test administered by hospital staff when she arrived in Rockford. Taylor said that Fiez had signed the consent form as both a third party and recipient of the text. These records were not entered into evidence following Taylor's emphatic objections.
"I find this pernicious," Taylor said. "This is not a maybe, not at the court's discretion; it is not admissible."
Judge Thomas Vale allowed for the blood test taken by deputy Schuetz to be entered into evidence despite it being taken more than three hours after the crash, citing probable cause and this only being a preliminary hearing.
District Attorney Gary Luhman had medical documents released to the Green County Sheriff's Department shown in Green County Circuit Court displaying a prohibited blood alcohol content for Stokes exceeding .08 percent, which were entered into evidence.
Stokes is charged with two Class D felony counts, one for homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle and one by homicide by use of a vehicle with a PAC. She also faces three charges of Class F felony counts of injury by intoxicated use of a vehicle, and injury by use of a vehicle with PAC.
Stokes is scheduled for an arraignment hearing on March 6.
The homicide charges are for the death of a driver, Antone C. Grawehr. The injury charges are for Grawehr's wife Alma, 82, who sustained a wrist fracture in the crash, and for Stokes' passenger Charlotte M. Jones, 41 whose arm was fractured.
According to court records, the Grawehr's were on their way home from their son's wedding in Milwaukee shortly after 10 p.m. traveling westbound on Wis. 81 just south of Brodhead, when Stokes' eastbound SUV swerved over the center line and collided head-on with the Grawehr's silver Dodge Caravan.
Antone Grawehr died on scene due to cardiac arrest after the force of the crash crushed his legs, broke his ribs, fractured his pelvis and left him with multiple lacerations and head injuries.
Stokes was also seriously injured and was flown by Medflight helicopter to a Rockford hospital. At Thursday's hearing, Stokes used the elevator to reach the second floor of the building and required the use of a cane to move around.
Sheriff's deputy John Schuetz gave testimony that he met Stokes in Rockford Hospital more than three hours after the crash and had hospital staff administer a blood test. These results would later be contested by defense attorney Guy Taylor, citing an old statute that limits the amount of time that a blood test must be administered before the three-hour mark, but the results were still entered into evidence.
Testimony was also heard from Sheriff's detective Chris Fiez who said he met with Stokes several days following the crash. He said he received Stoke's consent to view her medical records, which included a blood test administered by hospital staff when she arrived in Rockford. Taylor said that Fiez had signed the consent form as both a third party and recipient of the text. These records were not entered into evidence following Taylor's emphatic objections.
"I find this pernicious," Taylor said. "This is not a maybe, not at the court's discretion; it is not admissible."
Judge Thomas Vale allowed for the blood test taken by deputy Schuetz to be entered into evidence despite it being taken more than three hours after the crash, citing probable cause and this only being a preliminary hearing.