Forest Lake man found not guilty in fatal hit-and-run death of St. Paul woman; prosecutors drop other charges
After a Chisago County jury last week acquitted a Forest Lake man on two of four charges stemming from a fatal hit and run earlier this year, prosecutors decided to dismiss the two remaining charges against him, Chisago County Attorney Janet Reiter said Tuesday.
The jury on Thursday found Mark Wiosky, 38, not guilty on counts of third-degree murder and criminal vehicular homicide – leaving the scene. They could not reach a unanimous verdict on the two other charges — second-degree manslaughter and criminal vehicular homicide while having methamphetamine in his system, Reiter said.
“While disappointed in the outcome, we respect the jury’s decision,” she said. “They deliberated for approximately 16½ hours over two days to reach those verdicts on Thursday. After review and contemplation, prosecutors did not believe another trial now would have resulted in convictions on the remaining two counts. As a result, the remaining two counts were dismissed.”
According to the criminal complaint, Wiosky was the driver of a pickup truck that ran over and fatally injured Heidi Lynn White, 51, of St. Paul, in the parking lot of a convenience store in Wyoming, Minn., on the night of June 22, officials said.
Shortly before 10:30 p.m. on June 22, police received reports that a man and woman had been arguing at the Holiday Gas Station on Kettle River Boulevard and that the man had then run the woman over before fleeing the scene, according to the criminal complaint.
Video footage showed the truck had pulled into the parking lot of the gas station and a car had followed. At one point, the man got out of his truck and flicked a cigarette inside the car where a woman was sitting. Then, he reached into her car and grabbed the keys before getting back into his truck.
The woman got out of her car and the two argued as the woman tried to get her keys back from him as he sat inside the truck.
As she was reaching into the driver’s window of the truck trying to get her keys, the man accelerated and the woman was hanging onto the door. She fell and the truck’s rear wheel ran over her head as the man drove off in the truck.
Wiosky called police the next day and turned himself in. He said he was driving the pickup and he had used methamphetamine about an hour before the incident. He said he and White had been arguing.
Wiosky’s attorney, Mike Padden, said Wiosky and White’s “friendship had developed into an obsession” by her. Padden said Wiosky did what he needed to do to get away from her and “the only thing he could do was grab her keys because she literally would not stop following him.”
Padden said the jury seemed to agree with his argument that White’s decision to grab onto Wiosky’s moving pickup truck was a “superseding event” and made him not legally responsible for her death.
“If she had not grabbed onto the vehicle, she would not have been hurt,” Padden said. “He feels terrible about what happened, but he didn’t believe he was criminally culpable.”
White’s obituary said she loved fishing and being with friends. “She was always ready for a themed party,” the obituary states. “Halloween was top on the list!” Memorials to the Women Anglers of Minnesota were suggested.
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