Drunken driving death, wife shooting net guilty pleas
3/6/2019
Richard Shaka pleaded guilty to driving drunk and killing a person in a crash and Boon Mee Chang pleaded guilty to shooting his wife, paralyzing her for life, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Wednesday.
Chang pleaded guilty Monday to attempted first-degree murder and third-degree criminal sexual conduct and is expected to be sentenced to more than 22 years in prison on May 2. Shaka entered a straight plea Tuesday and the two sides will argue his sentence before Hennepin County District Court Judge Kathryn Quaintance at his sentencing May 14. Prosecutors will be seeking a sentence of four years in prison, which is the sentence recommended by the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines.
Chang, 26, called police to the family home at 925 Russell Ave. N. in Minneapolis on April 30, 2018 and told them his wife was shot in their second floor bedroom by a burglar, who jumped out the window and fled.
However, at his guilty plea, Chang admitted to coming home from work early and seeing his wife texting another man. They argued and he shot her in the back as she tried to jump out the window. He admitted he treated his wife with particular cruelty and one of their young children witnessed the violence. He also admitted that he left her alone for about 30 minutes, expecting her to bleed to death. He also pleaded guilty to the criminal sexual conduct charge, which occurred in 2015, when he held her down and forced her to have sex.
Chang will receive a sentence of 220 months in prison for the attempted murder and 48 months in prison for the criminal sexual conduct, to be served consecutively, for a total of 268 months in prison.
In the other case, Shaka, 73, of Blaine pleaded guilty to criminal vehicular homicide. According to the criminal complaint and his testimony Tuesday, Shaka collided with a Hyundai driven by 30-year-old Jenna Bixby of Nowthen in the southbound lanes of Highway 252 in Brooklyn Park on Feb. 17, 2018.
Shaka admitted he was drunk at the time and drove north in the southbound lane. Bixby was dead at the scene.