News

Mayor Aufforth makes a plea agreement in his DUI charge

By Scott Wagar

04/23/2013

Mayor Ben Aufforth was to have his pretrial conference on April 19 concerning the DUI charges against him, along with three other charges, but prior to the pretrial conference Aufforth made a plea agreement to settle the charges out of court. However, the mayor’s plea agreement was not settled in court due to a minor technicality.

Although Aufforth did not appear in district court on Friday morning, his attorney, Bill Hartle out of Rugby, appeared before Northeast District Judge Michael Sturdevant to announce that Aufforth had made a plea agreement with the prosecution attorney, Galen Mack from Rugby.

Hartle went on to say that Mack had not signed the plea agreement and requested from Sturdevant if he could file the plea agreement prior to Mack signing the document, which he rejected.

Sturdevant went on to say that Mack would need to sign the plea agreement before it could be filed.
Once the plea agreement is signed and has been finalized, the plea agreement will become an open record.

The mayor is accused of becoming inebriated and hitting a parked vehicle that was unoccupied, and then leaving the scene of the accident before local law enforcement was notified.

Aufforth has been charged with driving/operating a vehicle under the influence of liquor or drugs; failing to give immediate notice of a reportable accident; care required in operating a vehicle and leaving the scene of an accident involving an unattended vehicle.