Kevin Haug is sentenced to prison

HARTINGTON — District Court Judge Bryan Meismer sentenced Kevin Haug to prison Monday.

Haug had been charged with two counts of attempted murder, but those charges were reduced down in a plea bargain agreement with Cedar County Attorney Nicholas Mattney.

The charges stem from a July 2019 incident in which Haug stabbed James Olson of Yankton.

The other attempted murder charge is from later that day, when Haug rammed into a Cedar County Sheriff’s Dept. vehicle in an attempt to escape law enforcement.

Meismer sentenced Haug, 45, to 5-12 years in prison for a felony charge of First Degree Assault.

He then sentenced Haug to one year in prison for the felony count of Flight to Avoid Arrest. That sentence will be served concurrently, however, which means no additional time will be served for this charge.

Haug was also sentenced to two years in prison for each of the two separate felony charges of attempted assault of an officer using a motor vehicle.

Judge Meismer also agreed to reduce the sentence by 374 days because of the time he has already served while he worked his way through the judicial process.

The sentence means that Haug could serve a maximum of nine years in prison. If he is awarded good behavior time while in prison, that sentence would be cut in half, however.

After hearing the judge’s pronouncement Haug used his opportunity to address the court and apologize “to the police officers he put in danger, the general public, Rhea and my children.”

“It was a long day. It’s hard to reconcile with what happened that day. But yet, here we are,” Haug said. “Meth is a heck of a drug. I lost everything because of it. I apologize for all my actions and take full responsibility for them.”

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