Man charged in infant daughter's drowning death appears in court
Bail was set for $10,000 Friday for a 41-year-old Minnetrista man charged with criminal vehicular homicide following his infant daughter's drowning death in Lake Minnentonka after the family's vehicle broke through thin ice, the Star Tribune reports.
According to the criminal complaint, Jonathan Markle's blood-alcohol level was 0.13 two hours after the Jan. 18 incident, when he allegedly drove in the area of the channel between Priest's and Halstead bays.
Markle, his wife, Amanda, and their 2-year-old daughter, Isabelle, were able to escape from the sunken vehicle. Eight-month-old Tabitha, however, was under water for 15 minutes or more and died in a hospital three days later.
Markle was expected to make bond Friday afternoon. The judge also ordered the man to stay away from alcohol and illegal drugs.
Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Michael Burns requested the judge set bail at $150,000 or $50,000 with conditions -- including Markle stay from alcohol -- and noted that the man had a previous alcohol-related offense. But Markle's attorney Joel Friedberg argued his client be granted $10,000 bail because he had no serious criminal record and because of other personal factors, the Star Tribune reports.
Markle, who is a paralegal, was charged Thursday and turned himself in to Hennepin County authorities Thursday night.
