Elderly driver gets probation in fatal crash

ALBERT LEA, Minn. (AP) — An 87-year-old driver has been sentenced to probation in Freeborn County for a crash that killed a motorcyclist last year.

Marvin William Steinhauer pleaded guilty to criminal vehicular homicide in a plea agreement with prosecutors. Steinhauer missed a stop sign at 55 mph in May 2009. Forty-eight-year-old Jose Ignacio Martinez of Blue Earth crashed his motorcycle into Steinhauer's car and later died.

Besides a blood-alcohol content of .08, prosecutor Craig Nelson says vision and hearing problems probably were factors in the crash.

The Albert Lea Tribune reports Judge Steve Schwab stayed a four-year prison sentence and added a year of electronic home monitoring.

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