LITCHFIELD, CT : Families of teens killed in crash speak at sentencing of drunken driver from Paynesville on Monday, 22nd October 2018

Images flashed across a Meeker County courtroom television screen Monday, showing two smiling teenagers wearing camouflage and baseball caps, posing with friends and showing off freshly caught fish.

A packed courthouse of family and friends cried as mothers of the two teens spoke of lives cut short.

“When my son Travis was killed, a part of me died with him,” Julia Monson said. “His charm was everlasting. He lived life to the fullest, every day.”

Sixteen-year-old Zachary Rohrbeck and 19-year-old Travis Monson, both of Watkins, were killed in a crash with a drunken driver who crossed the centerline on state Highway 24 last August. A third teen, 16-year-old Kathleen Prestidge, of Montrose, was injured.

But their mothers said the slideshows were really for the man sitting in the defendant’s chair: Benjamin Lee Tate, 28, of Paynesville.

Tate was sentenced Monday to 58 months in prison for felony criminal vehicular homicide and gross misdemeanor criminal vehicular operation.

Minnesota State Patrol troopers on the scene of the Aug. 25 crash said Tate had bloodshot, watery eyes and smelled strongly of alcohol, according to a criminal complaint on the charges.

Source