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A McLoud man, accused of providing alcohol to an underage minor just hours before that teen driver was involved in crash that killed his passenger, has pleaded guilty to a furnishing alcohol charge while a second-degree murder count has been dismissed.
John Michael Halford Jr., 26, pleaded guilty in Pottawatomie County District Court to the felony of furnishing alcoholic beverage to a person under 21. For that charge, he received a five-year suspended sentence.
With the court action and as a result of negotiated plea, prosecutors dismissed a second-degree murder originally filed against Halford.
Halford wasn’t involved in the crash but was charged in connection with the death of Wyatt Dunn, 17, who was a passenger in a pickup being driven by his cousin, Tory Dunn, who was 18 years old at the time of the crash.
According to the court filing, Halford was accused on Jan. 2, 2010, of committing the felony of furnishing an alcoholic beverage to Tory Dunn of Harrah.
“The act of Halford providing liquor to an underage person directly resulted in the death of Wyatt Dunn,” the original arrest affidavit alleged.
With the murder count dismissed, Halford was sentenced for the single count of providing alcohol, for which he was accused of providing sweet tea vodka to Tory Dunn and Dylan Lawson in McLoud.
Tory Dunn, now 20, was driving a Ford pickup on Jan. 2, 2010 with five passengers, including Lawson, when the fatal accident occurred about 9 p.m. on Westech Road, west of Kickapoo Street. As the driver, Tory Dunn was charged in Pottawatomie County District Court with manslaughter. He pleaded guilty in his case in 2011 and was sentenced to serve an 18-year term with the Department of Corrections, with the first six years to be served in prison and the last 12 years of that sentence on probation.
An arrest affidavit shows that during the crash investigation, troopers interviewed an employee of a Harrah liquor store, who told authorities he didn’t know the name of the person who purchased the vodka but remembered he was in a Ford F-150 pickup and was wearing clothing that had a McLoud Fire Department logo on it. In January, 2010, Halford was reportedly a volunteer firefighter in McLoud, troopers wrote in their reports.
The Harrah store clerk later picked Halford out of a photo lineup as the person who bought the vodka for the teens, according to the trooper’s affidavit.
Nearly 18 months after the fatal crash, an arrest warrant was issued for Halford last August and his case progressed to his plea this week.
Sentencing by District Judge John Canavan included Halford paying a $2,500 fine, serving 200 hours of community service and participating in a Victim’s Impact Panel, all while being on probation through the district attorney’s office.
A McLoud man, accused of providing alcohol to an underage minor just hours before that teen driver was involved in crash that killed his passenger, has pleaded guilty to a furnishing alcohol charge while a second-degree murder count has been dismissed.
John Michael Halford Jr., 26, pleaded guilty in Pottawatomie County District Court to the felony of furnishing alcoholic beverage to a person under 21. For that charge, he received a five-year suspended sentence.
With the court action and as a result of negotiated plea, prosecutors dismissed a second-degree murder originally filed against Halford.
Halford wasn’t involved in the crash but was charged in connection with the death of Wyatt Dunn, 17, who was a passenger in a pickup being driven by his cousin, Tory Dunn, who was 18 years old at the time of the crash.
According to the court filing, Halford was accused on Jan. 2, 2010, of committing the felony of furnishing an alcoholic beverage to Tory Dunn of Harrah.
“The act of Halford providing liquor to an underage person directly resulted in the death of Wyatt Dunn,” the original arrest affidavit alleged.
With the murder count dismissed, Halford was sentenced for the single count of providing alcohol, for which he was accused of providing sweet tea vodka to Tory Dunn and Dylan Lawson in McLoud.
Tory Dunn, now 20, was driving a Ford pickup on Jan. 2, 2010 with five passengers, including Lawson, when the fatal accident occurred about 9 p.m. on Westech Road, west of Kickapoo Street. As the driver, Tory Dunn was charged in Pottawatomie County District Court with manslaughter. He pleaded guilty in his case in 2011 and was sentenced to serve an 18-year term with the Department of Corrections, with the first six years to be served in prison and the last 12 years of that sentence on probation.
An arrest affidavit shows that during the crash investigation, troopers interviewed an employee of a Harrah liquor store, who told authorities he didn’t know the name of the person who purchased the vodka but remembered he was in a Ford F-150 pickup and was wearing clothing that had a McLoud Fire Department logo on it. In January, 2010, Halford was reportedly a volunteer firefighter in McLoud, troopers wrote in their reports.
The Harrah store clerk later picked Halford out of a photo lineup as the person who bought the vodka for the teens, according to the trooper’s affidavit.
Nearly 18 months after the fatal crash, an arrest warrant was issued for Halford last August and his case progressed to his plea this week.
Sentencing by District Judge John Canavan included Halford paying a $2,500 fine, serving 200 hours of community service and participating in a Victim’s Impact Panel, all while being on probation through the district attorney’s office.
