The pretrial for Michael Stean Vos, Jr., 18, of Holland, which was scheduled for last Friday morning in the Minnehaha County Courthouse in Sioux Falls, was rescheduled for November.
His attorney, Minnehaha County Public Defender Cheri Scharffenberg, asked Judge Peter Lieberman to delay the pretrial to allow more time to review 1,400 pages of medical records.
“This case involves a considerable amount of medical records and we are not through with that at this time,” she told Judge Lieberman.
Deputy State’s Attorney Ryan Sage agreed to the request and Judge Lieberman allowed it. No specific date has been set for the pretrial at this time, but Sage said he expects it to be in early November with a trial date set for a few weeks after that.
Michael faces one felony charge of vehicular homicide and two misdemeanor counts of DWI following a one-vehicle crash that occurred on May 24 in Sioux Falls. Zachary L. Blawat, 16, of Pipestone was a passenger in the vehicle and died two days later at Sanford Medical Center in Sioux Falls from injuries sustained during the crash.
Vos faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in the South Dakota State Penitentiary and a $30,000 fine for vehicular homicide and a maximum sentence of one year in Minnehaha County Jail and a $2,000 fine for DWI.
Asked for their thoughts on the accident and the court proceedings prior to entering the courtroom Friday, Michael said nothing and his mother Kerry would not comment.
“I really don’t know what to say right now,” Kerry said.
Scharffenberg would not comment on the case as they were leaving the courtroom either, but Sage said there have been ongoing talks of a plea bargain.
“We’ve been in negotiations, but a plea hasn’t been reached yet,” he said.
