Blaine man sentenced to 1 year in jail for fatal hit-and-run in October

By KSTP

John Robert Jones [Anoka Co.]

A Blaine man was sentenced to one year in jail, following a guilty plea in January to a fatal hit-and-run last October.

John Robert Jones, 31, was charged with hitting and killing 56-year-old Bridget O’Keefe Dunn on Oct. 25, 2021, and fleeing the scene.

Dunn was reportedly walking her dog that afternoon when the crash occurred, and Jones told police then he thought he hit either a dog or a sign and did not stop.

Judge Melissa Saterbak handed down a sentence to Jones of one year in local jail, with credit for 138 days served.

Jones was also ordered to serve 180 days on home electronic monitoring following his discharge from jail and weekly chemical testing for one year following his release from custody.

A stayed sentence of 69 months in prison was imposed, meaning if Jones violates the terms ordered by the judge, he could be sent to prison to serve the stayed sentence instead.

At the plea hearing in January, the victim’s husband, Chris Dunn, told the court he was open to giving Jones a second chance.

“I don’t have an anger about this anymore,” Chris Dunn said in January. “This is a 31-year-old guy who has children and just had a kid a couple weeks ago…people make terrible, terrible mistakes.”