Man pleads guilty in fatal DWI case

MUNCIE – An ex-Yorktown man on Monday admitted he had consumed “probably about 10 beers” before his car struck a moped from behind last July, fatally injuring a Muncie teenager.

Benjamin David Brand, now 24 and of Cicero, pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated causing death as part of a plea agreement.

Authorities said tests measured Brand’s blood-alcohol content at 0.24 percent – three times the legal limit for motorists – last July 10 after the traffic accident on Cornbread Road west of Hoyt Avenue.

The moped’s operator, 18-year-old Mason L.R. Wolfe, died of severe head injuries later that day at IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital. A passenger on Wolfe’s moped was also injured.

Delaware Circuit Court 1 Judge Marianne Vorhees took the plea bargain – which also saw Brand plead guilty to driving while intoxicated causing serious bodily injury and driving while suspended – under advisement, and tentatively set sentencing for June 23.

The deal leaves the terms of Brand’s sentence entirely up to the judge. The most serious charge, stemming from Wolfe’s death, is a Level 4 felony carrying up to 12 years in prison.

Under questioning by Chief Trial Deputy Prosecutor Eric Hoffman, Brand said he had consumed beer at a westside Muncie home before the 3:25 a.m. accident.

He did not contest Hoffman’s suggestions he was traveling an estimated 50 mph when he struck the moped, and that his vehicle traveled about 500 feet after the impact.

Brand said he did not believe he was drinking from an open beer bottle found in his vehicle as he drove. Asked if he remembered being uncooperative with police at the hospital, he said, “It’s blurry.”

When the judge asked Brand whether he was an alcoholic or drug abuser, defense attorney Jake Dunnuck said his client “is in treatment.”

“What is your drug of choice?” Vorhees asked.

“Opiates,” Brand responded.

The former Yorktown man was convicted of driving while intoxicated in 2012.

The plea agreement also calls for a dismissal of three misdemeanor charges pending against Brand in an unrelated 2015 case – resisting law enforcement, disorderly conduct and public intoxication.

Contact news reporter Douglas Walker at (765) 213-5851. You can also follow him on Twitter @DouglasWalkerSP.