ST. PETER, MINN. – Tears welled in Deanna Darkow’s eyes as she addressed the man who killed her fiancé.
Nightmares have haunted her each night, Darkow said, ever since a dispute last summer in North Mankato led to the shooting death of John Everette Lutgen-Bernatz, 27.
Across the courtroom room, a handcuffed Dominic Scott Ellen, who had pleaded guilty to the murder of Lutgen-Bernatz, mostly looked ahead, stone faced.
But Ellen, 42, seemed to flash a pained looked as Darkow spoke of how her fiancé thought of him as a brother, and how her daughter will grow up without a father.
“How do I explain to her that her father’s not here?” Darkow asked. “That he was taken out by someone he considered family? How can I teach her to trust?”
Darkow, overcome by emotion, could not finish her statement, delivered during sentencing Tuesday at the Nicollet County Courthouse in St. Peter.
Ellen pleaded guilty to second-degree murder without intent, as part of a plea deal filed Feb. 14. The state dropped charges against him for assault, threats of violence and possession of a firearm without a serial number.
The Arlington, Minn., man was sentenced on Tuesday to almost 22 years in prison and supervised release.