Faribault man pleads guilty in road rage incident that killed 79-year-old Vietnam veteran
Leslie Shawn Sanders (Credit: Rice County Sheriff's Office)
A Faribault man pleaded guilty on Friday in connection with a “road rage” incident in Dundas that killed a 79-year-old.
53-year-old Leslie Shawn Sanders is expected to receive an executed sentence of over 11 years(140 months).
Sanders was initially charged with first-degree assault after the incident, but the charges were amended to include one count of second-degree murder and one count of third-degree assault after Larry Lynn Myers died from his injuries.
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According to court records, witnesses at the scene of the assault in June of 2022 told Dundas police that Sanders had exited his pickup truck while it was still rolling, approached Myers’s SUV and started punching Myers repeatedly in the face.
Myers was said to have corroborated the witnesses’ story. At the scene, Myers told Dundas Police Chief Todd Hanson that the two vehicles were on Cannon City Boulevard when Sanders went to pass Myers’s vehicle and hit Myers’s vehicle when returning to the lane.
It is unclear how events escalated, but records show the assault incident happened later on Highway 3.
Myers was seen to be bleeding from serious facial injuries and was taken to the hospital in Northfield. Healthcare providers diagnosed Myers with fractures below his eyes, a fractured nose, lacerations to the forehead and mouth, and other wounds.
Myers was later transported to Hennepin County Medical Center where it was determined he had a serious brain injury and could no longer tolerate dialysis or breathe on his own. On July 6, 2022, Myers died after being taken off of life support.
“We understand that no amount of prison time will ever be enough to make up for a lost loved one,” said Rice County Attorney Brian Mortenson in a news release. “We greatly appreciate the family’s cooperation, communication and understanding while the case has been pending.”
The obituary for Myers says he previously lived in Jackson, Missouri and was a U.S. Air Force Veteran who served in Vietnam.
Sanders is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 12.