MAN WHO CAUSED 2 SEVERE CRASHES MAY GET 60 DAYS

Juneau - In the span of six months, Nicholas Vogg caused two major car
crashes that left one man dead and critically injured a friend.

Authorities suspected that marijuana played a role in the first crash
and that alcohol contributed to the second.

But Vogg could walk out of Dodge County Circuit Court with only a term
of probation and 60 days in jail as punishment because a new law took
effect too late to be invoked for the first crash and because he
walked away from the scene of the second.

Wisconsin's so-called drugged-driving law didn't take effect until six
months after Vogg pulled away from a stop sign and into the path of a
car driven by Paul Kozlowski, killing him.

Of the first case, Dodge County District Attorney Steven Bauer said in
an interview last week, "Now we have the exact law that I could have
used for the circumstances. I understand that the family (of
Kozlowski) is upset, but we did what we could under the law."

After a lengthy investigation, Bauer decided he could charge Vogg only
with possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia for what was found
in the car and nothing for what was found in his system. Not enough to
convict

"The level of THC (the active ingredient in marijuana that produces
its high) was low, and there was no one that would testify that it
made him impaired," Bauer said. "There was not enough to convict him
of operating while impaired.

Vogg has been charged with two felony counts of injury by intoxicated
use of a vehicle in November 2003 in connection with the second crash.

Cindy Kozlowski, whose husband of 43 years was killed in the first
accident, wrote in a letter to the judge presiding over Vogg's cases
that the second crash demonstrated that he had no remorse.

"A life was cut short due to his actions!" she wrote in a letter to
Dodge County Circuit Judge Daniel Klossner. "This second accident
caused my family and myself almost as much anguish, grief and stress
as the first one."

Bauer said he would have liked to come down harder on Vogg, but
circumstances and the law prevented him from doing so.

As for the second crash, Bauer said, "The case has some problems with
proving impairment. He wasn't actually arrested until some time after
the accident."

Although he was drinking on the night of the second incident - a
rollover crash in which he critically injured a friend, then abandoned
him and the overturned car - by the time he was arrested, it was too
late to accurately determine his blood-alcohol concentration at the
time of the crash, investigators said.

Bauer said he has learned that because of Vogg's late arrest and the
delay in getting blood, there would be difficulty proving his
impairment at the time of the crash.

Both cases were scheduled for Thursday, but the proceedings were
postponed. DA: No comment on deal

Bauer said Thursday, "I'm not going to comment on pending plea
negotiations. I do not want to talk about anything that could have an
impact on his (Vogg's) ability to have a trial if he chooses to do
so." Attempts to reach Vogg's defense attorney, Patrick H. Madden,
were unsuccessful.

But Linda Kozlowski Bourret, Paul Kozlowski's daughter, said she was
informed by the district attorney's office that both cases are
expected to be resolved in a plea bargain involving misdemeanor - not
felony - convictions and an expected sentence of probation and 60 days
in jail, an outcome she considers lenient.

The first crash occurred on March 16, 2003, when Paul Kozlowski, 67,
of Neosho was eastbound on Highway 33 in the Town of Hubbard. A Dodge
County Sheriff's Department report says that Vogg, now 22, of Neosho,
was northbound on county Highway TW when he pulled away from a stop
sign and into the path of Kozlowski's car.

Kozlowski died from internal injuries while Vogg and a passenger in
the car he drove, Christopher Hertzel, 20, survived. At a hospital,
Vogg admitted having smoked marijuana "on the night of March 15,
2003," according to a criminal complaint.

"If Nicholas Vogg hadn't have been smoking pot while driving, his
judgment at that intersection wouldn't have been compromised,"
Kozlowski Bourret says in another letter to Klossner. 'Numerous' empty
beer cans

The second crash occurred at 2:30 a.m. on Sept. 13, 2003, when a car
Vogg was driving roared through a stop sign on county Highway P in the
Town of Ashippun, hit an embankment, went airborne and landed on its
roof in a thicket, spewing "numerous" empty beer cans, according to a
Dodge County Sheriff's Department report.

When he left the scene, Vogg left his friend, Thomas J. Miller, 21,
with a broken leg, a broken elbow and head injuries. Deputies finally
found Vogg walking along a county trunk highway, and he readily
admitted having been the driver.

Blood samples were obtained from him at 9:15 a.m. and 9:30, according
to court records, and subsequent tests fixed the alcohol concentration
in them at 0.11 and 0.10. A level of 0.08 is considered evidence of
intoxication.

While undergoing treatment at Beaver Dam Community Hospital, Vogg said
he'd been involved in accidents in the past and probably would be in
the future, according to a sheriff's deputy's report.

"Vogg also told me that he had the best lawyer in Dodge County and
that it was well worth the money spent to stay out of jail, as this
lawyer could get him out of most of his charges," Deputy Kevin
Harvancik said in the report.