DARLINGTON, Wis. — A Shullsburg, Wis., man was convicted of three felonies in Lafayette County Circuit Court on Tuesday in Darlington for a 2011 crash that killed a 21-year-old Rumford woman.

In a report published Thursday in the Wisconsin State Journal, a jury found Kyle Monahan, 24, guilty of homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle, homicide while operating a vehicle with a prohibited alcohol concentration and homicide by negligent operation of a vehicle, which resulted in the death of Rebecca Cushman of Rumford.

Monahan was charged following a crash on Aug. 20, 2011, that killed Cushman, who was a a passenger in Monahan’s 2001 Saab, according to the State Journal.

Cushman was born in Lewiston and went to school in Mexico, graduating from Mountain Valley High School in 2008. She had been living in Chicago, where she worked as a nanny.

The report from the Lafayette County Sheriff’s Department said Monahan was driving just outside of Shullsburg at a high speed when the car left the road and traveled some distance before hitting a creek embankment and rolling over numerous times.

Both occupants, who were not wearing seatbelts, were ejected from the vehicle.

Cushman was pronounced dead at the scene, while Monahan was transported to a Rockford hospital by medical helicopter.

Lafayette County Circuit Court Judge William Johnston, who presided over the seven-day trial, scheduled a sentencing hearing for Monahan on Jan. 23, 2014.

In Wisconson, homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle and homicide while operating a vehicle with a prohibited alcohol concentration are Class D crimes and carry prison terms not to exceed 25 years for each count. Homicide by negligent operation of a vehicle is a Class G crime and carries a prison term not to exceed 10 years.


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