PINE CITY — It’s understandable that the general public may assume a prominent lawyer would catch a break when appearing in court on criminal charges, a judge and prosecutor said Wednesday.
But attorneys handling the case against James Patrick Carey wanted to make it clear he wasn’t getting a mere “slap on the wrist” for drunkenly striking a highway construction worker last fall.
“I explained to (the victim) that that certainly wasn’t the way our office would treat Mr. Carey,” Pine County prosecutor Kelli Jasper said, “but that we also wouldn’t treat him more harshly because of the employment that he has. We would treat him like we would any other person in the same factual situation.”
Carey, 64, the head of one of Minnesota’s oldest and largest personal injury law firms, will avoid further jail time if he successfully completes four years of supervised probation under the sentence handed down by Judge Krista Martin.
The president and managing partner of SiebenCarey pleaded guilty in June to a gross misdemeanor count of criminal vehicular operation resulting in bodily harm, admitting he was under the influence of alcohol when he clipped the worker on Interstate 35 near Hinckley.
James Patrick Carey. (Courtesy of the Pine County Sheriff’s Office)
Court documents said the victim, Joseph Gregory Flanagan, 27, of Duluth, was wearing a high-visibility vest and walking on a dirt shoulder when he was hit by Carey’s 2016 GMC Acadia around 11:40 a.m. Oct. 6.
Carey continued north without stopping, but was eventually located by Carlton County Sheriff’s Office deputies about 35 miles north near Moose Lake, his vehicle missing its passenger side mirror.
Carey, of Edina, Minnesota, reportedly smelled of alcohol and had bloodshot, watery eyes. A preliminary breath test placed his blood-alcohol concentration at 0.143, in excess of the 0.08 legal limit, according to a criminal complaint.
Flanagan, meanwhile, was transported to Essentia Health-Sandstone, where he was treated for injuries, including “severe bruising and swelling on his arm where he had been hit.”
Under the terms of a plea agreement, additional gross misdemeanor counts of criminal vehicular operation and failure to stop for a traffic collision, as well as a misdemeanor impaired driving charge, were dismissed.
Jasper said Flanagan was initially “extremely upset” and insisted that any plea agreement include Carey serving jail time beyond the four days he already spent in custody.
But the county attorney’s office later agreed to the deal, she said, because Carey “voluntarily availed himself of multiple treatment opportunities, and has really gone above and beyond what we would normally see a defendant do at this point.”
Flanagan ultimately did not object to the outcome, Jasper said. He did not attend Wednesday’s sentencing, nor did he submit a victim-impact statement or request restitution. But he has retained a civil attorney, the prosecutor said.
Defense attorney Tom Sieben, brother of the defendant’s law partner, said he has known Carey for 40 years and said he has seen a “huge, huge change” since the incident. A Biwabik native, Carey is a fourth-generation attorney and the son of a longtime state judge.
“He’s doing really wonderful with his recovery,” Sieben said. “I know his wife; I know his children. I know they are all extremely proud of the change that he’s made in the last year. It’s a big deal to jump in and admit that you have a problem and do what it takes to keep that sobriety going.”
Sieben said the Minnesota Department of Motor Vehicles is expected to impose a two-year loss of license and a requirement that Carey install an ignition interlock.
He has already penned a letter of apology to the victim, as prescribed by the plea agreement, and will perform 80 hours of community service at a children’s hospice organization.
“I’m very sincerely sorry to Mr. Flanagan and his family for the trouble and pain that I have caused them,” Carey told the court. “Rarely does a day go by where I don’t think about it. I was in a really bad, unhealthy place. I think I’m in a better place now.”
In lieu of a 364-day jail term, Carey must also comply with all recommendations of a treatment assessment, abstain from alcohol and non-prescribed drug use and submit to testing at the discretion of his probation officer.
Judge Martin said she hoped the sentence would show that the system does not “favor those folks with money or power.” She said Carey, due to his prominence in the legal community, has likely faced more scrutiny than an ordinary person would in his situation.
“You haven’t been strident and you haven’t been arrogant and you haven’t been difficult,” Martin told him. “In fact, you have been humble and you have taken responsibility and you have done what’s necessary to work on your issues. I think that is a really good sign.”
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