OWATONNA, Minn. — A Minnesota appellate court judge was ordered to serve probation after pleading guilty to driving while drunk.
Renee Worke, age 67, of Owatonna, waived her right to a jury trial on Friday and pleaded guilty to one count of driving with a blood alcohol content above 0.08.
Worke is an elected Minnesota Court of Appeals judge.
She was taken into custody on Nov. 29, after a Steele County Sheriff’s deputy came across a vehicle stuck in a snowbank on the south shoulder of U.S. Highway 14 at the Interstate 35 overpass in Owatonna around 9 p.m.
According to the complaint filed in Steele County District Court, Worke was the only person in the vehicle and told the deputy she wasn’t injured and that she had had a glass of wine two hours prior. Worke was taken to the Steele County Detention Center for sobriety tests. A breath test showed a .16 blood alcohol concentration — twice the legal limit.
Worke was charged with driving while intoxicated and driving with a blood alcohol content of more than .08. The DWI charge was dismissed, and Worke was given one year of probation, a $500 fine and ordered to perform 15 hours of community work service within a year. Worke is ordered to abstain from alcohol for a year under the terms of probation.
Steele County Attorney Robert Jarrett said the case was handled without “consideration of position, status, or potential collateral consequences.” The probation term and conditions for Worke are consistent with how similarly situated first-time DWI offenders with no prior record are handled, Jarrett said.
Worke was appointed to the Minnesota Court of Appeals on June 9, 2005. She has been re-elected to the position in 2006, 2012, 2018 and 2024.
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