Three and a Half Year Prison Sentence for Driver in Fatal Crash That Killed Melrose Man

(KNSI) — The 20-year-old man accused of having ten drinks before getting behind the wheel and causing a crash that killed a Melrose man has been sentenced to prison.

Joseph Paul Maness was given a sentence of 41 months in prison after he pled guilty to criminal vehicular homicide and criminal vehicular operation. The Minnesota State Patrol, who investigated the crash, said just before 4:00 a.m. February 18th, 20-year-old Joseph P. Maness, of St. Anthony, was driving his Jeep Wrangler west in the eastbound lanes of traffic on Interstate 394 from 6th Street in downtown Minneapolis when he crashed head-on into a car driven by 30-year-old Alan Alexander Caraveo from Melrose near the Plymouth Road exit in Minnetonka. Caraveo died in the crash. His 21-year-old passenger suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center.

According to the criminal complaint, troopers responded to the crash and spoke with Maness, who they said was exhibiting signs of impairment, including bloodshot, watery eyes. They said he also smelled of alcohol. His preliminary blood alcohol content was .207%. The state’s legal limit for drivers over 21 is .08%. Maness is underage, which subjects him to the state’s zero-tolerance law on underage drinking, called not a drop. It is a misdemeanor for anyone under 21 to consume any alcohol.

He will spend just over two years in prison with credit for time served.

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