Work release denied 2nd time

By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

A Marion man originally granted work release when he was sentenced to jail Dec. 13 for driving under the influence has been told twice by a judge that he must remain in jail.

In a Feb. 22 hearing, Judge Benjamin Sexton declined to reinstate Laramie Siebert’s work release, which Sexton ended Jan. 13 after hearing that Siebert had quit his job the day before he told Sexton during sentencing for his third DUI conviction that he worked for 2K Feeders.

Siebert reportedly was working with his father, John Siebert, cutting and clearing trees while out of jail for work.

Sexton told Siebert Feb. 22 that he took the matter “very seriously” and that he would consider allowing Siebert to work for a structured business, but not be self-employed.

Siebert’s lawyer, Thomas Dower of Hutchinson, asked Sexton to reconsider because Siebert “was extremely nervous on the date of his sentencing and acknowledges that he incorrectly stated his place of employment during the court hearing.”

“It was certainly not (Siebert’s) intention to in any way mislead the court regarding his employment status,” Dower wrote. “(He) has a number of responsibilities to his family and others which require him to be employed.”

Siebert earlier spent four years in prison after he was convicted in McPherson County of involuntary manslaughter in the 2011 death of James Stang. Siebert was driving under the influence when his pickup crossed the centerline of US-56 near Canton and crashed into Stang’s pickup. Stang died at the scene.