Austin man enters guilty plea in fatal hit and run crash
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(ABC 6 News) – An Austin man has entered a guilty plea in court Monday morning for killing a woman in a hit and run crash last December.
Darin Finley, 36, has pleaded guilty to one charge of criminal vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of the accident, as well as a DWI charge in which he refused to test after his license was suspended.
He is charged with two counts in relation to the hit and run and one count in a separate incident.
Finley’s jury trial was set to start Monday, Sept. 11 when he requested a petition to enter a guilty plea.
Finley’s license was revoked in January, after he was accused of hitting and killing 41-year-old Melissa Rack of Austin.
Darin Douglas Finley / Mower County Jail Roster
According to the Austin Police Department, just after 11 p.m. on Dec. 30, officers responded to a report of a person lying in the road on Oakland Place SE.
Rack was found not breathing and without a pulse when officers arrived on scene. Officers then rendered CPR until Mayo Ambulance arrived and took over lifesaving efforts, but they were unsuccessful.
Finley was later arrested by police after evidence at the scene was consistent with damage on his vehicle.
A few months later, Finley was charged with a DWI after he was arrested again in February. Finley’s license had been suspended after the fatal crash and reportedly refused to take a DWI test.
Finley is set to be sentenced on Dec. 21, 2023.