A former Lutheran bishop accused of killing a runner while driving drunk is expected to plead guilty Tuesday to a felony charge of reckless homicide in exchange for prosecutors dismissing other charges.
The trial for the Rev. Bruce Burnside was scheduled to start Monday in Dane County Circuit Court. The plea agreement angered the victim’s husband.
“What the District Attorney’s Office is doing is wrong, it’s morally wrong,” said Kevin Mengelt, of Sun Prairie. “It allows the case to wrap up quickly, but that is the only balm offered my family.”
Burnside, 60, was charged with four felonies and one misdemeanor in the death of Maureen Mengelt, 52. The charges included felony homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle and felony hit-and-run involving death.
Burnside was driving to a church event on April 7, 2013, when he lost control of his vehicle on a highway exit ramp in Sun Prairie and hit Mengelt, who was out for a Sunday training run. Prosecutors allege Burnside fled the scene in his vehicle. Police first spoke with him at a nearby gas station.
A preliminary breath test determined he had a blood alcohol level of 0.128 percent, according to the criminal complaint. The legal limit for driving in Wisconsin is 0.08 percent.
Under the plea agreement, Burnside will plead guilty to second-degree reckless homicide, a felony, said John Hyland, Burnside’s attorney. Hyland said his client also will plead guilty to a first offense of drunken driving, which in Wisconsin is a civil violation, not a crime.
As part of the agreement, the prosecution will seek no more than eight years in prison, Hyland said. He declined to say what punishment he will recommend for his client. The sentencing judge is not bound by the recommendations.
Kevin Mengelt said the plea agreement does not capture the horrific nature of Burnside’s crime.
“I want his record to reflect what he actually did,” Mengelt said. “The two most important elements are the hit-and-run homicide and the OWI (operating while intoxicated) homicide. Of the two of them, I think the hit and run is the more morally reprehensible. He knew he hit someone and he fled the scene.”
While the drunken driving violation at least acknowledges Burnside was drunk, “that’s so dramatically less than what he actually did,” Mengelt said.
Mengelt said he was included in conversations with prosecutors leading up to the plea agreement and expressed his views to them.
District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said he is constrained in what he can say about the plea agreement because it is an open case.
“We understand this is a difficult situation, not only for the victim’s family but for the community,” he said.
Ozanne said the dismissed charges will be read into the record, which means the judge can consider the conduct contained in those charges when sentencing Burnside. Ozanne noted that the felony charge Burnside will plead guilty to is of the same class, or level of seriousness, as several of the dismissed felonies.
Hyland said the terms of the plea agreement are appropriate given unresolved matters in the case. Although the judge in Burnside’s case ruled prosecutors can use results of a blood draw, the state Court of Appeals is considering whether the state’s approach to drawing blood from drivers is constitutional.
The plea agreement eliminates the issue in Burnside’s case, Hyland said.
“It provides the opportunity (for Burnside) to accept responsibility and the ability to do so in a way that gives up, on his part, any future appeal or ability to undo a conviction based on rulings from the Court of Appeals that have not been issued yet,” Hyland said.
At the time of the crash, Burnside was bishop of the South-Central Synod of Wisconsin of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA). His term ended last June.
Until now, he has retained the title of reverend, although according to his denomination’s rules, once he pleads guilty to a felony, he will be required to resign or will be removed from the ELCA roster of clergy members. Hyland said Burnside will resign from the clergy prior to entering his plea.
The second annual Maureen Mengelt Memorial 5K run is scheduled for May 26, in Sun Prairie. Computer hackers recently hijacked the race’s website, Kevin Mengelt said. Registrants should now go to
maureenmengelt.com/home.
