After three days of testimony and a little more than three hours of deliberation, an Oconto County jury on March 6 found an Oconto Falls man guilty of homicide by drunken driving.
Thomas Edward Wolf, 59, was convicted of homicide by the intoxicated use of a motor vehicle, homicide by the operation of a motor vehicle with a prohibited alcohol content (PAC), and a misdemeanor charge of operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated (third offense), in connection with a 2022 crash that claimed the life of Bart Erdman, 60, also of Oconto Falls.
The jury found him not guilty of a second misdemeanor count of operating a motor vehicle with a PAC.
Judge Michael Judge immediately revoked Wolf’s $50,000 cash bond and ordered him taken into custody. He set March 9 scheduling conference to arrange for a sentencing date. Wolf faces a maximum of 40 years in prison and a $100,000 fine for each of the two felony homicide counts, along with an additional year in jail and fines for the third OWI conviction.
The original criminal complaint indicates Wolf was driving a pickup truck and Erdman was on a motorcycle, both of them traveling south on County Road I near Beaver Lake Road in the Town of Oconto Falls, when the truck rear-ended the motorcycle around 8:45 p.m. the evening of Aug. 3, 2022.
The impact threw the Harley-Davidson into the east ditch and caused the pickup to spin counterclockwise and turn over at least once, also coming to rest in the ditch, the complaint said. Erdman was ejected and pronounced dead at the scene.
Sgt. Ben Schindel of the Oconto County Sheriff’s Department interviewed Wolf later that night in the hospital. Wolf allegedly said he was traveling south on County Road I at about 50 mph “when he all of a sudden saw a bright light come out of nowhere.” He tried to stop but didn’t remember anything specific until his pickup overturned and came to rest in the ditch, the complaint said.
A preliminary breath test at the hospital showed a blood alcohol content of 0.124%, or more than 1½ times the legal limit, according to the complaint.
