Rosemount teen sentenced for punch that killed Vietnam veteran

An 18-year-old Rosemount man was sentenced Tuesday to a juvenile correctional facility for punching a Vietnam veteran in the face at Harriet Island Regional Park in an assault that left the victim dead weeks later .

Wyatt Daniel Doerfler admitted this month in Ramsey County District Court to hitting Thomas Dunne after confronting the 76-year-old man in a parking lot on Jan. 28. At the regional hospital, Dunne suffered several fractures to both his eye socket and nose. He died on February 23 while hospitalized.

The defense and prosecution agreed to have the case designated to expanded juvenile jurisdiction in exchange for Doerfler's guilty plea to first-degree manslaughter while committing fifth-degree assault.

Also part of the June 5 plea, Doerfler, who turned 18 two months after the attack, was given an eight-year suspended adult prison sentence, meaning he could serve that sentence in adult prison if he violates the terms of his probation. . Offenders under the extended juvenile jurisdiction are under the supervision of the juvenile court until the age of 21.

The plea deal also moved the case to Dakota County, where Doerfler lives. At Tuesday's disposition hearing, Dakota County District Judge Jamie Cork heard arguments from both sides and victim impact statements from Dunne's family, including his widow, Helen Broderick, before to sentence Doerfler to a long-term treatment program at the Minnesota Correctional Center in Red Wing.

Doerfler will be required to complete aggression replacement training during the one-year program. It will be reviewed in court every 90 days.

“They're going to teach you how to deal with that anger or that impulsiveness that you have,” Cork told Doerfler. “They're going to tell you about the loss of life…and the pain you've caused everyone, so don't do it again. Consequences of your actions.

Doerfler was initially charged with first-degree assault causing serious bodily injury. The charges were upgraded to manslaughter on April 24 after a final autopsy report found that Dunne, of St. Paul, died of “probable complications of an assault,” according to the juvenile's amended motion.

Dunne served two tours in Vietnam as a Marine and later served in the Minnesota National Guard and Wisconsin Army Reserve, retiring as a command sergeant major. He was a hero, his widow told the Pioneer Press four days after his death.

She told the court Tuesday they had just finished a walk in the riverside park – and he had a cookie in one hand and his phone in the other when he was attacked.

“Tom played by the rules, served his country and community and lived a life giving back and enriching those around him,” she said. “An attack on him was an attack on the very fiber that sustains our society. »

“Yeah, that was me.”

Officers were called to the 100 block of Water Street after Broderick reported her husband had been punched in the face. Officers found Dunne standing next to his car with blood pouring from his right eye socket. Saint-Paul firefighters were called to the scene.

Dunne told officers he saw a man urinating and took out his phone to take a photo, when two other men were getting out of a blue Ford Fusion. They approached him and tried to take his phone, and one of them punched him in the face.

A witness told police he saw a man urinating in the park. She said three men then confronted Dunne and one of them snatched the phone from his hand and punched him in the face. She said she yelled at them before they drove away, heading east.

Officers saw three men walking east along the river and asked them if they were involved in a fight. Doerfler took the stand and said, “Yes, it was me,” the petition states. He refused to make an official statement.