Man sentenced in fatal 2012 crash gets an additional year in county jail

A man involved in a fatal crash a decade ago is spending another year in county jail after the Department of Corrections revoked what remained of his probation.

A teenage girl died and two friends riding in the back seat were seriously hurt when Brandon Bosacki lost control of the car and crashed on Oak Orchard Road in Pensaukee in June 2012.

In July 2013, Oconto County Judge Michael Judge sentenced Bosacki, now 31, to a total of 11 years under state supervision: three years in prison and five years of extended supervision for the death of Jamie Bialozynski, 17, of Abrams, followed by another three years of probation for the injuries to the other passengers.

The state Department of Corrections revoked Bosacki’s probation last August, with less than a year to go before completing his sentence, after an incident in De Pere that involved heavy drinking and an allegation of unwanted sexual contact.

Bosacki was back in Judge’s courtroom on March 8 to be sentenced for the parole violation. Judge accepted a recommendation that he serve 12 more months in jail, including the 191 days he has already spent in the Brown County Jail.

The hearing began with a statement from one of the surviving victims, who said she has had to deal with depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and lingering physical issues for more than 10 years.

“Being the victim in this case has been torture,” she said. “After 10 years I have to relive and open up old wounds because you choose to still make terrible decisions.”

Richard Zoellner, the new Oconto County assistant district attorney, told Judge that Bosacki proved unable to successfully complete the terms of his probation.

“The allegation in this case that’s the basis for the revocation is very serious; it’s alleging sexual assault against Mr. Bosacki,” Zoellner said.

On the other hand, Zoellner noted that after reviewing the allegations, Brown County declined to file charges, and family members sent letters attesting to Bosacki’s character to the court in advance of the hearing.

“Mr. Bosacki has been a well-regarded, functioning member of the community and very supportive to his family,” he said, “but as we heard a few minutes ago, his actions from back in 2012 still affect individuals to this day.”

Defense attorney Greg A. Petit said Bosacki is “sincerely remorseful for what happened when he was 20 years of age” and followed all of the conditions of his sentence for nearly the whole term.

“He didn’t do anything wrong on probation. All restitution, all fines are paid in full, every cent,” Petit said. “He is not some reckless 20-year-old as he sits here today.”

That said, Petit joined Zoellner in recommending the one-year jail term, with Huber work-release privileges and credit for time served.

Given a chance to speak before sentencing, Bosacki said he had tried to follow the rules, not cause problems, and be a productive citizen.

“I would like the opportunity to go back to being a productive citizen and try to move on from what happened 10 years ago,” he said tearfully.

Judge recognized the victim who had spoken as he began to impose sentence.

“We all realize, the court realizes that regardless of what the sentence was for Mr. Bosacki, it hasn’t resolved much as far as the victim is concerned,” he said, and to the victim, “You are probably carrying your mental and physical injuries you sustained for the rest of your life, and I’m sorry, but I can’t fix it, regardless of what I do for Mr. Bosacki. Quite frankly, I thought I addressed it back in 2013.”

Bosacki will also live with the consequences of his actions — anyone can look at court records and see what he did, the judge said.

In terms of how he has attempted to atone for his actions, Judge said his probation agent reported Bosacki has been compliant with all requirements, had no rule violations, never missed an appointment, lived with his parents since his release from prison, and maintained full-time employment.

“Frankly, everything is on the positive side that I reviewed,” he said. “It appears Mr. Bosacki is making an attempt to be a normal, ordinary, responsible person in our community, and the court gives him credit for that.”

Bosacki was convicted of being negligent, not intentionally harming anyone, Judge said.

“This not a re-sentencing of what occurred in 2012, this is a hearing to consider whether this defendant violated the terms of his probation top such a degree that he deserves to serve additional confinement time,” he said.

Judge then imposed the recommended sentence.