A Marble man has admitted that he was high when he crashed his SUV into another vehicle on Highway 5 in November 2020, a head-on collision that killed 39-year-old Franklin D. Rice of Hibbing.
Thomas Michael Gilley, 27, pleaded guilty Monday in St. Louis County District Court to one felony count of criminal vehicular homicide. Minnesota statutes show that he faces a maxim of 10 years in prison if convicted.
Gilley had initially been charged with two of the felony counts, but he entered a plea deal which dropped one and called on prosecutors to seek a sentence that aligns with the state guidelines, as first reported by the Star Tribune.
HIBBING â An Iron Range man facing vehicular homicide charges will have to wait until at least next week to find out if heâs headed back to custody after being arrested for suspicion of DWI last month.
Thomas Michael Gilley of Hibbing was charged in December 2020 with vehicular homicide after he allegedly drove head-on into another vehicle one month earlier while under the influence of a controlled substance. On March 18, 2021, he was reportedly involved in a single-vehicle accident on Town Line Road in Hibbing, where law enforcement obtained a warrant for blood sample after he crashed into power lines and sustained apparent minor injuries.