Alexandria woman sentenced to 15 years in prison for homicide charge stemming from fatal crash

Alexandria woman sentenced to 15 years in prison for homicide charge stemming from fatal crash

Alexandria woman sentenced to 15 years in prison for homicide charge stemming from fatal crash

An Alexandria woman was sentenced Friday afternoon to 15 years in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release, after pleading no contest to a homicide charge for a drunken driving crash that occurred in 2022.

Amber Lea Pospisil, 32, learned her sentence Friday afternoon during a court hearing in St. Croix County, Wisconsin.

Pospisil was initially charged with one count of second-degree homicide by intoxicated use of vehicle, two counts of second-degree recklessly endangering safety, and one count of second-degree homicide by use of vehicle. The crash killed 54-year-old Mark Filbrandt of Robbinsdale.

Filbrandt’s brother, Greg Filbrandt, spoke before the judge handed down Pospisil’s sentence.

“He was finally living life long dream of playing in a band. His unexpected, tragic loss came at a horrible time with him leaving this way, at a time when he had just turned his life around,” Greg Filbrandt said.

Pospisil also addressed the court before learning her fate, telling the courtroom “I ended his life too early, on October 30th, 2022, as a consequence of my decision to drink and drive. I put the safety and lives at risk of everyone on the road that night.”

“I took the life of Mark who was your son brother and friend… I’m sorry,” Pospisil stated at the hearing.

Reacting after the hearing concluded, Greg Filbrandt said the sentence brought him some closure.

“It doesn’t bring him back, it doesn’t solve anything,” Greg Filbrandt said before adding, “this chapter’s done, there’s some ridiculous relief.”

As previously reported by 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS, Pospisil pleaded guilty by no contest to one count of second-degree homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle in April of 2023 in exchange for the dismissal of the three other charges.

RELATED: Alexandria woman charged in St. Croix County crash that left 1 dead

The crash happened at about 12:30 a.m. on Oct. 30, 2022, on Interstate 94 near Hudson. An initial report stated Pospisil was driving eastbound in the westbound lanes.

Upon arrival, authorities learned the vehicle Pospisil was driving had collided with another vehicle traveling westbound. The man in that vehicle was identified as Mark Filbrandt. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Filbrandt was on the way home after playing with his band at a show.

Mark Filbrandt (Courtesy: Family)

Authorities learned the drivers of two other vehicles and a U-Haul truck drove through the debris from the crash. All occupants of those vehicles were checked and had no visible injuries, according to the complaint.

A Wisconsin State Patrol Trooper investigating the crash did field sobriety tests after noticing Pospisil’s slurred speech and detecting the odor of an intoxicant.

Pospisil admitted to having consumed alcohol prior to driving, the complaint states. She was arrested at the scene.

This isn’t Pospisil’s first drunken driving incident – she pleaded guilty to a DWI charge in 2021 after she got into a crash in Douglas County while she had a blood-alcohol content of 0.296.