A Prague man who entered a blind guilty plea on a first degree manslaughter charge has been sentenced to state prison.
A formal charge was filed March 2, 2023 in Lincoln County District Court against Joseph Resin Linnhuber. The charge is the result of a fatal traffic collision.
During his arraignment on Dec. 19, 2023 before District Judge John Canavan, Linnhuber entered the blind guilty plea. The court found him guilty and set his sentencing .
During his recent sentencing Judge Canavan found Linnhuber guilty and ordered him to served 30 years in the Department of Corrections with the last 10 years to be suspended.
He also was assessed a $100 fine, a $100 VCA and court costs. The court recommended that Linnhuber be placed in the drug offender work camp or an equivalent.
Assistant District Attorneys Rachel Thompson and Kelly Trimble prosecuted the case for the state and Linnhuber was represented by Attorney Thomas Adler.
The first degree manslaughter charge accused Linnhuber on July 28, 2022 in Lincoln County of driving while under the influence of an intoxicating substance, a misdemeanor, by driving a 2001 GMC Sierra on a public road while having an amount of marijuana, a Schedule I Controlled Dangerous Substance or one of its metabolites or analogs in his blood and as the result he struck the vehicle Nicole Hamel was driving, causing her death that day.
The alternative first degree manslaughter charge accuses Linnhuber on the same day of reckless driving, a misdemeanor by driving that GMC Sierra in a careless or wanton manner, without regard for the safety of persons or property, or that violated lawful speed limits, or that exceeded the speed that a careful and prudent person would have considered reasonable and proper having due regard for the traffic, surface and width of the highway or other conditions and as the result he struck the vehicle Hamel was driving causing her death.
State Trooper Shayne Ballard, a traffic homicide investigator with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, stated in an affidavit of probable cause for arrest warrant, the fatal traffic collision occurred around 10:32 a.m. on July 28, 2022 at the intersection of E. 1040 Road and S. 3500 Road in Lincoln County.
Ballard said the GMC Sierra driven by Linnhuber was traveling eastbound on E. 1040 Road. Hamel was driving a 2009 Honda Civic southbound on S. 3500 Road, he reported.
The trooper stated that physical evidence at the scene and a statement made by Linnhuber showed the GMC Sierra failed to stop at the stop sign for eastbound traffic, entered the intersection and struck the southbound Honda Civic driven by Hamel.
Ballard further noted the intersection had stop signs for the eastbound and westbound traffic and no traffic control device for southbound or northbound traffic.
The trooper stated Hamel was pronounced dead at the collision scene and that Linnhuber wasn’t injured and declined medical treatment.
Ballard reported in the affidavit that consent was obtained to get data from the event data recorder from the GMC Sierra driven by Linnhuber.
In the affidavit, it’s stated that data showed Linnhuber slowed his vehicle from 52 miles per hour to 43 miles per hour approaching the intersection and stop sign and that the vehicle did not stop prior to entering the intersection.
It further states the data shows he then accelerated from 43 miles per hour to 59 miles per hour prior to impact with the Honda Civic driven by Hamel.
The trooper stated a consensual blood sample was obtained from Linnhuber following the collision and it was submitted to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation for toxicology analysis.
Ballard said in the conclusions of his investigation that Linnhuber was driving to his residence, made the decision to proceed past a stop sign without stopping at the intersection, striking the Honda Civic driven by Hamel.
Toxicology results showed that Linnhuber was operating his GMC Sierra with THC in his blood stream at the time of the collision, Ballard stated.
He further said Linnhuber was traveling well in excess of the 35 miles per hour speed limit on a gravel road, disregarding traffic control signs with marijuana in his bloodstream, causing the death of Hamel.