A St. Paul man pleaded guilty Monday to causing a crash that killed a bicyclist last year, then fleeing the scene.
Dustin Hegner Royce, 28, pleaded guilty in Ramsey County District Court to one count of criminal vehicular homicide, leaving the scene. As part of the plea deal, one count of criminal vehicular homicide, operating a motor vehicle in a grossly negligent manner, was dropped.
According to the criminal complaint: Hegner Royce failed to stop at a red light and drove an SUV into Jose Hernandez Solano about 12:10 a.m. on Nov. 26. Hernandez Solano, 52, was leaving his job at Brasa Rotisserie at the time. He was left unconscious in a lane of traffic on W. 7th at Grand Avenue and died Dec. 7 at Regions Hospital.
Hegner Royce and his mother, Abbey R. Hegner, 48, were arrested in December in the collision but were released as the investigation continued. They were charged in March when authorities pieced the case together through witness accounts, surveillance video, phone records and searches of their homes.
Surveillance video showed Hegner Royce speeding and driving dangerously, police said. License plate information led authorities to his mother, who later allegedly said that she had sold the SUV to a "Somalian, Mexican, brown skin" days before the crash.
Hegner's case is scheduled for a hearing Wednesday.
No agreement has been reached on Hegner Royce's possible sentence, said Ramsey County attorney spokesman Dennis Gerhardstein.
Hegner Royce is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 15, when the county attorney's office could argue for a sentence of between about 3½ years to 4¾ years in prison. His attorney argued Monday that Hegner Royce be released pending his sentencing, but the request was denied.
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