BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) - A southwestern Montana man pleaded guilty to charges that he struck and killed a 76-year-old man while driving drunk and then left the scene of the crash.
Michael Leo Moreno of Manhattan pleaded guilty Friday to vehicular homicide while under the influence for the October 2019 death of Truman Emmelkamp, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports. Emmelkamp, also from Manhattan, was out on an evening walk when he was struck and killed, the Montana Highway Patrol has said.
Under the plea agreement, prosecutors agreed to drop an evidence tampering charge. Moreno could face up to 40 years in prison when District Judge John Brown sentences him on July 15.
A co-defendant, Daniel Sifuentes, was sentenced last week to seven years with the Department of Corrections with four years suspended for helping Moreno hide the car and fabricating a story about the car being stolen at gunpoint to cover up their role in Emmelkamp’s death. Under such a sentence, the agency determines his placement, which would range from probation to prison.
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