Sentencing for a Merrill woman convicted of killing two people while driving drunk has been delayed until November.
The sentencing for Ashley D. Baumann, 26, was originally set for Aug. 20. However, Lincoln County Judge Jay Tlusty on Wednesday granted an adjournment so that she can recover from surgery.
Baumann, who was seriously injured in the June 2013 crash, will have knee surgery later this month. In a letter to the judge, her doctor said she will need three months of rehabilitation with physical therapy.
Assistant Attorney General Tara Jenswold, who is serving as a prosecutor in the case, said the state didn’t object to the adjournment as long as the new sentencing date remains firm. In her letter to Tlusty, Jenswold said the defendant and the defense should have been more mindful of her legal situation and planned accordingly for whatever medical needs she had.
Defense attorney Wright Laufenberg submitted the letter from Baumann’s doctor last week, stating that the surgery had been contemplated for numerous months. Laufenberg had also mentioned the pending surgery during the trail in May.
Following the seven-day trial, a Lincoln County jury found Baumann guilty on all seven felony counts against her. She was convicted on two counts of homicide by intoxicated operation of a motor vehicle in the deaths of Jessica Hartwig and Misty Glisch, one count of causing injury by intoxicated operation of a motor vehicle related to the injuries to Jerrica Woller, and one count of reckless driving-cause great bodily harm. Three other charges were dismissed on a motion from the prosecution after the verdicts were read.
Tlusty ordered a pre-sentence investigation in the case. Tlusty also initially ordered that Baumann’s bond be revoked and she was taken into the custody of the Lincoln County Jail. However, at a subsequent hearing, he allowed her to be released on a $10,000 cash bond.
Over the seven-day trial, the prosecution was able to convince jurors that Baumann was driving when her car went out of control at high speed and rolled in a field off Alexander Street on June 7, 2014. Laufenberg argued that it was possible someone else was driving the car at the time of the crash.