St. Anthony man pleads guilty to charges stemming from fatal February crash

A St. Anthony man will learn his fate later this year after pleading guilty to charges related to a fatal, wrong-way crash in February.

Court records show that 20-year-old Joseph Maness, who was charged with one count of criminal vehicular homicide and one count of criminal vehicular operation, entered guilty pleas to both charges during a hearing Friday morning.

A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for the morning of Oct. 13.

While the maximum sentence for the vehicular homicide charge is 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine and the vehicular operation charge carries a maximum of five years and a $10,000 fine, a plea deal says the state and defense have agreed to a cap of a 41-month sentence guideline. In addition, the defense will be able to argue for a dispositional departure, such as a sentence to prison or probation other than the recommendations listed in the guidelines.

As previously reported, a Minnesota State Patrol crash report says the crash happened just before 4 a.m. Friday, Feb. 18. Maness was driving a Jeep Wrangler the wrong way in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 394 when he collided head-on with a Chrysler Sebring near Plymouth Road, authorities state.

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The driver of the Chrysler, identified as 30-year-old Alan Caraveo, died. The passenger in the Chrysler suffered non-life-threatening injuries.

A criminal complaint states that when troopers made contact with Maness, they saw he had bloodshot eyes and smelled of alcohol. When they asked Maness if he realized he was driving the wrong way, Maness responded, “Sorry, bro,” and admitted he’d been drinking, the complaint states.

It adds that he said he’d consumed about 10 drinks, and a preliminary breath test showed his blood-alcohol content to be 0.207, over twice the legal limit.