A Duluth woman pleaded not guilty Wednesday to hit and run and seven other charges related to an Oct. 31 accident on Rice Lake Road that left a visiting teen critically injured.
Julie Ann Gronski, 27, is accused of driving her Honda CR-V into 18-year-old Alex Balluff of Oak Grove, Minn., as he and friends were walking in the 2200 block of Rice Lake Road just after 2:30 a.m. According to the criminal complaint, Gronski's vehicle carried Balluff on its hood for about 30 feet. Investigators determined that Balluff and his friends were off the main driving lane and that Gronski was driving on the shoulder.
Gronski is charged with two counts of criminal vehicular operation resulting in great bodily harm, two counts of criminal vehicular operation resulting in bodily harm, two counts of hit and run, driving after suspension and careless driving. Two of the charges relate to driving under the influence of alcohol.
Duluth defense attorney David Malban entered not guilty pleas on her behalf before Judge Heather Sweetland in St. Louis County District Court. Sweetland scheduled a pretrial hearing for April 12 with a trial scheduled for April 17.
Balluff, an athlete and 2009 honor graduate at St. Francis High School, spent 23 days in St. Mary's Medical Center with a traumatic brain injury. He continues to undergo rehabilitation for his injuries. He and his parents, Mike and Debbie, and a group of supporters attended Wednesday's hearing.
ADVERTISEMENT
Gronski initially told a male friend that she hit a deer with her vehicle. She later told a woman that she was really drunk and stupid, the complaint alleges, and that she might have hit a person and needed to get an attorney.
St. Louis County prosecutor Jessica Smith has filed notice that her office intends to seek a longer-than-guideline sentence for Gronski because the alleged offenses "are more egregious than normal." Under Minnesota sentencing guidelines for someone with no prior criminal history, the presumed sentence for the most serious crime Gronski is accused of is a stayed 18-month sentence and probation. A judge has the discretion of imposing up to a year in jail or nonjail sanctions as conditions of probation.
Smith bases her argument for a longer sentence on "multiple victims or persons endangered, failure to provide assistance to the victim, extreme injury, and flight or concealment.''
If Gronski goes to trial and is convicted, a second phase of the trial would be held for jurors to determine if a longer-than-guideline sentence is appropriate.
Gronski is free on $25,000 bond.
