Antigo Times

Top Menu

  • E-Editions
  • Contact Us

Main Menu

  • News
    • Business
  • Covid 19
  • Opinion
  • Courts
  • Arts & Ent
  • Sports
    • Sports News
    • High School Sports Scores
  • Classifieds
    • View Ads
    • Place Ads
  • Legal Ads
    • Our Legals
    • Statewide
  • Obits
  • Video
  • Best of 2022
  • Class of 2020
  • E-Editions
  • Contact Us

logo

Antigo Times

  • News
    • Business
  • Covid 19
  • Opinion
  • Courts
  • Arts & Ent
  • Sports
    • Sports News
    • High School Sports Scores
  • Classifieds
    • View Ads
    • Place Ads
  • Legal Ads
    • Our Legals
    • Statewide
  • Obits
  • Video
  • Best of 2022
  • Class of 2020
NewsPolice / Fire
Home›News›Tigerton woman sentenced to 15 years for drunk driving death of Antigo Man

Tigerton woman sentenced to 15 years for drunk driving death of Antigo Man

By Antigo Times
July 6, 2018
3079
0
Billie Jo McSherry at her sentencing hearing on July 6, 2018. (Portage County Gazette Photo)

By Joe Bachman
Editor of Portage County Gazette, Stevens Point City Times – MMC Publications

STEVENS POINT — A Tigerton woman was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment, with 10 years extended supervision for the 2017 drunk driving death of an Antigo man.

Nearly a year in the making, on July 8, 2017, then 29-year-old Billie Jo McSherry struck a motorcycle while driving drunk, taking the life of 48-year-old Antigo resident Robert Korhonen, and severely injuring his passenger, Stacey Zarda. This occurred on State Highway 49, in Portage County.

Earlier this year, she entered in a guilty plea for charges of homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle, injury by intoxicated use of a vehicle. It was the third time McSherry was found guilty of drunk driving in seven years.

“His death was a total ripple — and they never end.”

Nearly half-a-dozen victim witness statements were read in court, most of which are at an emotional loss over the death of Korhonen, who was seen a valued member of the Antigo community. As one victim put it in her statement, “I want you to take my pain, and feel what I feel.”

Assistant Portage County District Attorney Cass Cousins recognized the severity of McSherry’s actions.

“Nothing even comes close to the pain that is in this courtroom right now,” said Cousins to Judge Robert Shannon. “The people who have addressed the court today have better expressed than I how this offense is so far beyond almost comprehension. This was truly a person who was at the heart of the family and the heart of a community.”

Cousins pointed out that McSherry drove that afternoon under the influence with a BAC of .258, four times over the legal limit. She had her then 9-year-old daughter in the vehicle as McSherry veered into the opposite lane, resulting in the lethal crash.

McSherry’s attorney’s painted a picture of the defendant as a troubled youth, who in her earlier years was a victim of sexual assault, bullying, and as a result, made multiple suicide attempts through her life. She suffered forms of mental illness, and according to her attorney, attempted to take her own life weeks before the incident.

“I will forever be haunted by my bad choices,” said a tearful McSherry to the judge in her statement. “I relive the images in my mind everyday when I’m awake, and in my nightmares.”

Judge Shannon would call McSherry’s actions “selfish and reckless” during his statement before sentencing.

TagsFeatured
Previous Article

Glenda Stoffel, 62

Next Article

Alvin L. Kielman, 94

Related articles More from author

  • News

    CULVER’S RESTAURANTS TO SPONSOR FUNDRAISER FOR HONOR FLIGHT

    May 7, 2015
    By Antigo Times
  • Arts & EntertainmentNews

    Chamber poised to kick off holiday season

    November 25, 2015
    By Antigo Times
  • News

    Driver involved in deadly motorcycle accident pleads guilty

    April 4, 2018
    By Antigo Times
  • News

    AHS celebrating a variety of holidays during homecoming week

    September 7, 2017
    By Antigo Times
  • BusinessLocal InterestNews

    MoonShadow Dreams offers art, antiques and history to downtown Antigo

    April 14, 2017
    By Antigo Times
  • Arts & EntertainmentNews

    AHS Band member selected as understudy for Kids from Wisconsin

    March 13, 2018
    By Antigo Times

Leave a reply Cancel reply

Timeline

  • May 20, 2022

    Wisconsin Department of Health Services Secretary-designee Karen Timberlake’s Statement on CDC’s Updated COVID-19 Booster Dose Recommendations and Expansion to Children Ages 5 -11

  • May 20, 2022

    Unified School District of Antigo Board of Education Meeting Agenda for 5/24/22

  • May 20, 2022

    WisDOT North Central Region Road Construction Update #7

  • May 20, 2022

    Smith, Hofrichter, Hagerty Compete At 2022 USA Wrestling Northern Plains Regionals

  • May 20, 2022

    PUBLISHER’S LETTER

Copyright © 2020 Multi Media Channels LLC.
All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied, modified or adapted without the prior written consent of Multi Media Channels LLC.
×