ADEL, Iowa — The Council Bluffs drunk driver who killed a Minburn woman in February and gravely injured her 7-year-old son will serve up to 30 years in prison following his sentencing Friday in Dallas County District Court.
Steven Joseph Wink, 53, of Council Bluffs pleaded guilty Sept. 28 to charges of homicide by vehicle-OWI and assault causing serious injury by vehicle-OWI in a plea agreement with the state. As part of the agreement, the charge of second-offense OWI was dismissed by Dallas County District Court Judge Randy V. Hefner.
Wink’s attorney, Todd A. Miler of West Des Moines, said Wink was “attempting to drive home from his son’s wrestling meet” Feb. 2 with a blood alcohol content of .219% when the motor vehicle collision occurred south of Perry that claimed the life of Danyel Denise Hardisty, 39, of Minburn and badly injured her son, who is now 8 years old.
“I killed her,” Wink told Hefner when asked whether he had anything to say before the sentence was handed down, “and the thought of that little boy . . . it’s very difficult.”
Miler said Wink, a veteran of both the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy who served in Operation Desert Storm prior to his honorable discharge from the military, had four prior convictions for OWI — the earliest from 1997 — five convictions for possession of a controlled substance and six for driving while barred.
He said Wink received no alcohol counseling in connection with his prior alcohol-related convictions.
Present at the proceedings were Wink’s wife and three of their four children.
Prior to Hefner’s sentence, Hardisty’s parents and two sisters spoke movingly about the death of their loved one, saying that “beyond the pain and grief, there is anger.”
Along with all the possibilities squandered by Hardisty’s senseless death, the family was particularly indignant over the sufferings of her child, who has gone through “eight months of hell” with his injuries and “is lucky to be alive.” Compounding his woes, the boy’s father died of COVID-19 in more recent months.
Hefner said his purpose in sentencing Wink to consecutive terms of 25 years for homicide by vehicle-OWI and five years for assault causing serious injury by vehicle-OWI was “to protect the community from further offenses by you” and to give Wink time to “address the issues” that brought him to this deadly pass.
Wink was also ordered to pay $150,000 in restitution to the heirs of Hardisty.
Wink has 30 days in which to appeal his conviction. He is held in the Dallas County Jail on a $30,000 cash or surety bond.
