Bonaparte man indicted on....1989

DENLY, MITCHELL, PETERSON

Posted By: Volunteer: Sherri
Date: 7/21/2024 at 13:27:02

VB Co Reg
1989 MY 4

Bonaparte man indicted on involuntary manslaughter charge

Kevin R. Denly, Bonaparte, who was driving a vehicle that killed a Bonaparte man, was indicted on charges of involuntary manslaughter by a Van Buren Grand Jury.

The accident occurred on February 18, 1989.

The official bill reads "On the 18th day of February, 1989, on a county gravel road two miles south and two miles east of Bonaparte did unintentionally cause the death of another person, Thomas Mitchell, by the commission of an act in a manner likely to cause death or serious injury, an aggrevated(sp) misdemeanor."

Meeting for the first time in several years, the Van Buren Grand Jury handed down the indictment on April 14, but it was not released to the public until Denly was arraigned April 28.

According to the official Van Buren Sheriff's statement on the fatality, alcohol appeared to have been a major factor. Denly also struck William Peterson at the same time, sending Peterson to University Hospital in Iowa City.

Denly pled guilty to OWI last week. He requested a minimum of two hours to preset testimony at sentencing, which is yet to be scheduled.

According to the sheriff's report, Mitchell had been with Denly that night, when the vehicle they had been riding in, went into a ditch.

Denly went to his residence and allegedly, Mitchell had tired from the walk and sat down to rest. Dely drove his vehicle and was unable to stop as he struck Mitchell and Peterson. 

Mitchell was pronounced dead that night at Van Buren County Memorial Hospital. Peterson was flown by air ambulance to Iowa City.

(**#3 of 4)

Source: "Scrapbook 1989 - 1990", Pg. 580,
Keosauqua Public Library, Keosauqua, Van Buren Co., IA