ANTIGO — A man who struck and killed a moped driver in the Town of Evergreen while driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol in the summer of 2022 was sentenced to 13 years in prison and seven years extended supervision by Judge John Rhode Thursday afternoon in the Langlade County Courthouse.
Cory Hansen, 32, pleaded guilty in March to homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle and hit and run involving death.
According to the criminal complaint, around 10 p.m. on June 29, 2022, Evergreen residents called Langlade County sheriff’s deputies to Wilson School Road after hearing a commotion and seeing a flaming object in the road. The object, they found, was a mostly incinerated moped. A few yards east, they found its driver dead due to severe head trauma.
Another deputy followed a trail of fluid leading from the crash site down a driveway and found Hansen, who admitted he had hit something and that he had recently used marijuana, alcohol, and cocaine. Once in custody, Hansen threatened to kill deputies and refused a breathalyzer test. A crash scene analysis later determined Hansen struck the victim head-on while traveling on the wrong side of the road.
District Attorney Kelly Hays recommended Hansen receive a 15 year prison sentence with 10 years of extended supervision, noting his relatively extensive criminal history including disorderly conduct, operating a motor vehicle without consent, criminal damage to property, and throwing and discharging bodily fluid at a public safety worker.
Hays conceded that certain circumstances — such as Hansen’s mental health issues and the possibility that the victim had also been under the influence — could be viewed as mitigating, but suggested that his irresponsible actions were ultimately the ones that had caused the tragedy.
“I’m sure that this is difficult for him regardless, but also because I’m aware that he and the victim were friends,” Hays said. “There are points where he said he takes full responsibility, but then is sure to underscore the fact that the victim had blood alcohol content as well, the fact that the victim may or may not have had headlights that were working. That doesn’t change the fact that Cory was on the wrong side of the road — based on the reconstruction, he was on the complete wrong side of the road. It doesn’t change the fact that after striking this victim, he fled the scene.”
In his arguments for leniency, Hansen’s attorney Adam Raabe detailed certain unfortunate aspects of his client’s upbringing and, as Hays had, mentioned his client’s apparent friendship with the victim and a third man he said had drunk with them that night.
“This is a situation where three friends went out, got drunk, and decided to drive around,” Raabe said. “All of them acted recklessly, and at the end of the day, one of them faced the ultimate punishment, one of them is going to face a very substantial term of incarceration, and one of them had no penalty. They all rolled the dice, and fate led or it didn’t. So this is, I think, different than what I would consider a max penalty case, in that the victim here was not some innocent bystander who was driving along the road. Obviously, I’m not suggesting the victim deserved that or anything like that, but I do think the case is somewhat mitigated by the fact that the victim in this case was engaging in the same type of activity that my client was.”
Hansen too pleaded for leniency in an address to Rhode.
“I’m sorry to the family,” said Hansen, his voice seeming distraught. “I’m sorry to the officers that had to deal with me that night. This is an accident that could have been prevented had I not drank and drove. This has changed my life forever. I have a daughter. She’s nine. I haven’t seen here since she was five, but I’d like to see her again one day. That’s all I can ask for is that you have some mercy on me. I know there’s got to be justice. I know there’s got to be a sentence that’s right for the public, like they say. But I’m not a bad guy.”
Hays read a victim impact statement she had received from the victim’s father that also spoke of deep loss.
“You stopped a beating heart and took a life,” the letter read. “You stole bonding time from me and my kids. I’m not sure how I will get over this accident. I do hope God has mercy on you. I was hoping for another grandchild, but that will never happen.”
As he pondered his decision, Rhode told Hansen to consider himself lucky his fate had not been worse.
“You will have a lot of life left,” Rhode said. “The good thing about this too is, it’s hard to be in prison. It’s not fun. But it’s therapeutic too. I know you’re sorry because you hurt someone you knew, and you’re sorry because you’re facing these consequences. But taking your punishment’s therapeutic. You’re paying your dues to society for the mistakes that you made, and it should make you feel better…every day you’re one day closer to being done with your punishment, and hopefully it can bring you some peace then to think, ‘I made a terrible mistake and I had to pay a terrible price for it — but I paid that price, and then I get to go on with my life and be involved with my daughter, be involved with anybody who wants to be involved with me.’”
Rhode also described the case as a difficult one for which to determine the appropriate judgment.
“Someone died: there’s no worse consequence than that,” Rhode said. “The other thing that makes these cases so difficult to deal with is — some people would say it’s poo pooing to call it an accident — but it really is an accident. It’s not a crime of intent. You didn’t intend for this to happen. You didn’t intentionally harm, much less kill, anybody. I get that, and that sometimes makes it even more difficult. I would almost rather sentence someone that did have evil intent than didn’t, because it’s hard. What’s the right answer in those situations when the circumstances, the result, is so horrible? It’s the ultimate result, to have a life lost.”
Hansen will receive credit for the over two years he has already served in jail.
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