Former northern Minnesota DFL party official pleads guilty to vehicular homicide

This story is republished with permission from KAXE/KBXE.

GRAND RAPIDS — Cynthia “Cyndy” Martin pleaded guilty to criminal vehicular homicide and leaving the scene Thursday, May 21, in the 2024 death of 19-year-old Carter Haithcock on Highway 169 near Nashwauk.

The plea agreement for Martin includes 364 days in jail, which is a downward departure from sentencing guidelines for the felony charge.

The 66-year-old rural Grand Rapids woman would also spend every Fourth of July in jail during her five years of supervised probation; be fined $1,085; complete 100 hours of community work service; and not use possess or purchase alcohol or non-prescription drugs, among other terms.

Martin’s jail time would commence after the Aug. 3 sentencing hearing, if Judge Heidi Chandler accepts the plea agreement.

The maximum sentence for criminal vehicular homicide and leaving the scene is 10 years in jail, a $20,000 fine or both.

Martin’s agreement includes a stay of execution, meaning if she were to violate any terms of the agreement, she would need to serve a to-be-determined amount of time in prison. That amount will be determined by a pre-sentence investigation.

In an interview Thursday afternoon, Itasca County Attorney Jacob Fauchald said prosecutors are obligated to engage in plea negotiations and noted that the agreement is, “very close, if not more, than the type of sentence we would have anticipated” if the case were to go to trial.

During Thursday’s hearing, Assistant Itasca County attorney Courtney Beck said the prosecutors met with Haithcock’s family multiple times. The family was apprehensive when they were first told of the plea agreement but ultimately did not object, she said.

Martin struck Haithcock with her vehicle the night of July 3, 2024, and left the scene. Emergency responders found Haithcock with extensive injuries and pronounced him dead shortly after arriving. She was charged four months later.

Martin was visibly upset throughout the plea hearing Thursday, sniffling and scrunching and wiping her face to dry her tears.

She recounted the night she hit Haithcock, saying she was driving home from an event when she hit something. Martin said she pulled over to check her gauges, which were normal, and then resumed her drive home. The next day, she learned she had hit a young man.

“And that because of the collision, he passed away,” she said through tears, pausing to take a breath. “It was my responsibility to investigate, and I did not.”

Under questioning from Beck, Martin acknowledged if she had gotten out of the car, she probably would have seen something on the road.

Martin filed a petition to enter the guilty plea after a year and a half of legal maneuvering, including attempting to have the case dismissed, suppress evidence or move to another venue.

Some of these motions stemmed from the significant public attention the case has garnered, in part due to Martin’s past leadership positions in the local DFL Party. Martin resigned from those positions in December 2025, shortly after reporting from the Minnesota Reformer highlighted a split in party support.

Fauchald previously said Martin would need to admit to the crime as charged and “face the consequences associated with that charge.”

In February, Martin’s defense attorney Derek Hansen said he would give the state her therapy records in the hope that it would “move the needle” in their efforts to reach a plea agreement.

Beck told Chandler that therapy records from the time since the crash showed Martin was accepting responsibility for her actions, showing remorse and “doing what she needed to do and working on herself.”

Hansen cited Martin’s responsibility and remorse as reasons why the court should stray from its sentencing guidelines for this case, also pointing to her clean record and “immense amount of community support.”

The case was originally set for a jury trial on Aug. 31. If Chandler does not accept the plea, Martin can still withdraw her guilty plea and have a trial.