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ROCHESTER — A 45-year-old Rochester man was acquitted of a homicide charge related to a September 2018 crash that killed a woman. He was convicted of a lesser driving under the influence charge.
Dewain Fredrick Siewert appeared before Olmsted County District Judge Joseph Chase on Monday, Jan. 23, 2023, where he was sentenced to 45 days in jail for being under the influence when he hit and killed 39-year-old Emily Jacobsen.
Siewert had been charged with felony criminal vehicular homicide while under the influence of a schedule I or II drug. His conviction of driving while impaired is a misdemeanor.
Siewert was acquitted of his homicide charge and convicted of his driving while impaired charge during a court trial in November 2022.
Jacobsen died as a result of injuries she sustained following the Sept. 17, 2018, incident. Court documents indicate that her immediate cause of death was complications from blunt head and torso trauma.
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The Rochester Police Department was called around 5:30 a.m. on Sept. 17 to the alley behind 16 12th St. NW for a report of a medical situation. When officers arrived on scene, they found Siewert administering chest compressions to Jacobsen. She was taken to Mayo Clinic Hospital-Saint Marys, where she died a day later.
On scene that morning, Siewert told police that Jacobsen’s cat had gotten out and she went to look for it. When she was gone for a while, Siewert went out to look for her and got into his truck to go around the block when he struck Jacobsen.
During an interview with police later that morning, Siewert told an investigator he had smoked methamphetamine a few hours before the incident. A search warrant was obtained to collect a blood sample from Siewert because of the admission.
Analysis of the blood conducted by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension found the presence of methamphetamine and amphetamine, according to court documents.
Siewert was briefly hospitalized after the incident over mental health concerns.
Jacobsen left behind four children, according to her obituary .
Reporting by Emily Cutts contributed to this report.
