Judge sticks with plea deal

Following emotional statements by the family of Rachel Harberts and her 8-year-old daughter Emerson, as well as the defendant, Dodge County District Court Judge Jodi Williamson sentenced Tanner Kruckeberg, 25, Dodge Center, to the terms of what previously had been agreed on in a plea deal.
That deal included 10 years probation with 30-days each year spent in jail for the next five years for criminal vehicular homicide. A 57-month prison sentence was stayed for up to 10 years.
Immediately following the sentencing on Nov. 6 in a Mantorville courtroom, Kruckeberg was remanded to the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office to begin serving the first 30-day term in the Steele County Detention Center in Owatonna.
The charges arose from a crash in September 2018 that resulted in the death of Harbert, a Dodge Center resident and Blooming Prairie teacher, and her daughter. The two, along with Harberts’ son, Jaxson, were on their way to school and were stopped on U.S. 14 near Claremont to make a left turn when their vehicle was rear-ended by a vehicle driven by Kruckeberg.
Emerson Harberts died at the scene and her mother died later in the hospital in Rochester. Twelve-year-old Jaxon was critically injured but survived.
According to court documents, Kruckeberg reportedly admitted he was looking down at his phone and that cell phone records indicate he was using an online banking app when the Hummer he was driving struck the Harberts car.
Before Williamson announced Kruckeberg’s sentence, a number of members of the Harberts family made statements to the court with several asking if Kruckeberg had really learned from the choices he made.
Rachel’s mother, Sharon Post, told the court that the morning of the accident she heard the helicopters flying over the house and worried that there had been another accident on Highway 14. Then, Rachel’s husband Brandon called and said there had been an accident.
“That day changed the life of everyone,” she said. “Her life ended too soon.” Grandson Jaxon, she said, would not leave the hospital until Nov. 9.
“Nothing can bring them back,” she said. “Yes, Tanner will have to live with this, but,” she asked, “has he learned his lesson?”
Other family members expressed similar sentiments of how life would never be the same, that Jaxon would be growing up without his mother and sister.
“It sucked the joy out of part of my life forever,” Rachel’s brother Jeremy Post said. Like other family members he questioned whether Kruckeberg had learned his lesson.
The last family member to speak was Rachel’s husband and Emerson’s father, Brandon.
He and Rachel had met in 1996, he said, and married in 1999. Having children proved to be difficult, he said, but ultimately they did have Jaxon and Emerson who he described as “our miracle baby.”
Recalling the day of the crash, he said he received a call at work that Rachel was late for work at the school, which was not at all like her. Minutes later he got a call from a state trooper.
“Our lives changed forever that day,” he said. Not only did he lose his wife and daughter but “Jaxon can’t play football anymore, he is in special education and kids have been teasing him.” Because of his head injury he must wear a helmet for some activities and that embarrasses him, his father said.
“No one is going to win in this situation,” Harberts said. “I hope people learn from this. I think about them every day.
“Jaxon doesn’t talk about it, I don’t know what he is thinking.”
Kruckeberg also made a statement to the court, telling the Harberts family that he “blames nobody but myself.
“I want to apologize to the Harberts family and friends. There are no words I can say to make this better. I am truly sorry for what I have done. I don’t expect forgiveness.”
These cases are difficult and horribly tragic, Williamson said. “I see a lot of grace in this courtroom. I see a lot of forgiveness,” she said. She added she hoped it would open the doors of healing for the Harberts, for the Kruckebergs, for friends, law enforcement and the community, all of whom were affected by the tragedy.
Following the sentencing, Geoff Hjerleid the special Dodge County attorney who prosecuted the case, explained the reasoning for the plea bargain that avoided a prison sentence.
Gross negligence is a case such as this is a very difficult legal standard to meet, he said. In this case, he said, no alcohol or speeding was involved, Kruckeberg had no prior felonies and evaluations showed a low chance of recidivism.
The plea agreement, which had been presented to the court in September, had Kruckeberg pleading guilty to one count of criminal vehicular homicide for operating his vehicle in a “grossly negligent” manner. He was originally charged with two counts but the second one was dropped in exchange for a guilty plea.
His sentence calls for Kruckeberg to be on probation for up to 10 years. Each year, for the next five years, he will spend 30 days in jail with the jail time to begin on the anniversary of the crash. He will also be required to participate in community service where he will tell the story of what happened. In addition, his drivers’ license will likely be suspended although that decision will be made later by the Department of Motor Vehicles. A 57-month prison term was stayed during the probation period.