Attorney to seek lighter sentence for Iraq vet in fatal crash

HASTINGS, Minn. (AP) An attorney for an Iraq war vet will ask that his client receive a lighter sentence for a traffic crash that killed a teenage girl in Inver Grove Heights last fall.

Former Marine Anthony Joseph Klecker pleaded guilty in February to one count of criminal vehicular homicide.

Klecker was driving drunk when he hit a concrete lane barrier on I-494 last October jackknifing the slab into the path of an oncoming car.

Sixteen-year-old Deanna Marie Casey was returning home from a night shift at McDonald's in Cottage Grove when she was severely injured by the barricade. The girl was then killed in a chain-reaction crash with a passing semi.

Klecker's attorney, Brock Hunter, says the former Marine sought help for anxiety and alcoholism from Veterans Affairs prior to the crash.

Hunter will ask a Dakota County judge today to sentence Klecker to time served which would be less than a year in jail instead of the presumptive four-year prison term.

Information from: St. Paul Pioneer Press, http://www.twincities.com (Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APNP 06-21-07 0843CDT | save this article / add to your favorites list