A four-year term is the sentence for a driver who admitted to being under the influence of a prescription sleeping pill when she fatally struck a woman on foot at a Duluth intersection in April.
The sentence for Theresa Katzmark, 49, of Superior, Wis., handed down last week by St. Louis County District Judge Shaun Floerke, follows her guilty plea in June to criminal vehicular homicide in the death of 62-year-old Donna Estrem of Duluth.
With credit for time served since her arrest, Katzmark will spend the first 2⅔ years in prison and the balance on supervised release.
Katzmark hit Estrem about 12:40 p.m. on April 4 at London Road and 40th Avenue E. A witness reported seeing Katzmark speaking with Estrem before the crash while Katzmark's SUV was stopped on the grass just outside the Ecumen Lakeshore senior living complex.
Estrem walked away, the witness said, and that's when the SUV backed up, then suddenly lurched forward and slammed Estrem into an electrical box.
During her guilty plea, Katzmark admitted taking Ambien shortly before driving.
Estrem was employed by Senior Home Care Inc. and was working at Ecumen that day as a homemaker. She worked previously as a bus driver in nearby Proctor.
Katzmark is a registered nurse licensed to practice in Minnesota.
Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482
