Following tearful statements from Sellars’ family and friends, Gehrke, 45, also was ordered to spend 30 months on extended supervision by Judge Stephen Simanek.
Simanek said Gehrke, who had no prior criminal record, struck him as truly remorseful. Nevertheless, she killed one person and seriously injured Milwaukee firefighter Thomas Chopp, who was biking with Sellars. By sending Gehrke to prison, Simanek said, “Hopefully the message will be sent this behavior can no longer continue.”
After seeking unsuccessfully to block admission at trial the result of a second blood test taken hours after the crash – she registered blood-alcohol levels of 0.146 and 0.118 – Gehrke entered into a plea agreement in March.
She pleaded guilty to one felony count of homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle. Five other charges, including three felonies, were dismissed. After her guilty plea, Gehrke faced a maximum sentence of 25 years total, in a combination of prison and extended supervision.
Sellars, 48, was a popular endurance athlete from Franklin who had finished four Ironman triathlons, skied five American Birkebeiner races, ran ultramarathons and biked on a relay team in the Race Across America just weeks before she was killed. In a show of support and affection for her, fellow athletes organized a trail run, the Bear Trax, at Lapham Peak in the town of Delafield, to raise money for bike safety education.
“We are sad, but thankful this almost two-year ordeal is ending,” her parents, Robert and Gerry Virgili, said in a statement issued after the sentencing. “Nothing will ever bring Nancy back, but the excruciating wait and the many court hearings have taken a heavy toll. It is time to try to remember Nancy in a different way than in her last agonizing hours. We have all been unable to do that.”
top of page
Visitor Comments »
top of page