MINNEAPOLIS (KFGO) – The most notorious drunken driver in Minnesota history is suing the Minn. Dept of Corrections. In a federal civil rights lawsuit, Danny Bettcher of New York Mills says he was kept in custody for several months beyond what’s permitted by state law.
Bettcher says he was sentenced to four years in prison for a 2009 DWI conviction, but after he violated his parole in April, 2016, he spent 250 days in the Wright County Jail. Bettcher says he should have been released on May 8, 2016, but was kept in jail until the following January, exceeding the seven year maximum sentence allowed by state law.
Bettcher says in court documents that he was not aware of the violation until an attorney told him about it. Last year, Bettcher filed a similar lawsuit, but it was dismissed.
Minn. Dept. of Corrections Sentence Administration Unit Director Lorie Nelson says in a letter enclosed in the complaint that Bettcher’s release and expiration dates were correct.
Bettcher has 28 DWI’s. He’s currently at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Moose Lake and is due to be released in September, 2020.