Casper man charged with injuring 5 people in DUI crash gets prison sentence on revocation

CASPER, Wyo. — A Casper man will begin serving a prison term of at least three and a half years while awaiting trial on charges of driving drunk during an Oct. 27 crash that severely injured four people.

Jakob Izaiah-Lesli Klinger, 23, pleaded not guilty to five counts of DUI resulting in serious bodily injury before Judge Catherine Wilking on Wednesday morning. Chief Deputy District Attorney Blaine Nelson noted that some of the victims were in the courtroom, one of whom was seen walking with difficulty.

Klinger is presumed innocent unless proven or pleading guilty.

Police responded to the intersection of South Beverly and East 21st streets around 10:44 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 27. According to the report, Klinger was the driver of a tan Chevrolet truck headed east on 21st, with his mother and another woman as passengers.

Four juveniles ages 14–17 were traveling east in a Honda. The driver stated she was stopped at the four-way stop and turned left, assuming the oncoming truck, driven by Klinger, would stop. Investigators found no evidence that Klinger attempted to stop and said he had been travelling 40–50 mph in the 30 mph zone during the crash, according to the affidavit. 

The impact crushed the Honda’s front end all the way back to the windshield, and both vehicles came to rest 30–40 feet west of the intersection. 

Klinger’s front-seat passenger was found unconscious and taken to the hospital, where she was treated for a broken jaw and punctured lung from cracked ribs.

In the Honda, the driver got a broken nose and two cracked vertebrae. According to the report, she is expected to be in a back brace for three months following the injury. Her front passenger was unrestrained and lost consciousness for some time after the crash. He was ultimately diagnosed with a concussion and received five stitches.

A girl in the backseat was also unrestrained and was thrown into the front seats during the crash. She was diagnosed with a spleen laceration. Her mother told police she is not supposed to exert herself and cannot try out for volleyball, as she had planned. Another passenger in the back was wearing a seat belt and got a fractured collarbone.

Nelson told the court on Wednesday that Klinger’s blood-alcohol level was .16% — twice the legal limit. He said the evidence would show he had been at the Moonlight Lounge sharing a pitcher beer with his companions in the hours before the crash.

After pleading not guilty, Klinger had a revocation hearing. He was given three years of supervised probation in late August this year after pleading guilty to having pounds of marijuana product shipped through the mail to the home where he lived with his parents.

One of the conditions of his probation was not to have any alcohol. Klinger, appearing in court in orange jail attire, confirmed that he had admitted to his probation officer that he had drank “once” — on Oct. 27, 2024.

Klinger’s public defender, Tim Cotton, asked the court to consider that Klinger is still presumed innocent in the DUI case and that most defendants facing a revocation on their first felony for a single admission to alcohol use usually get another chance at probation.

In imposing the sentence, Judge Wilking said she was deferring to the recommendation of Klinger’s probation agent, who said he had been slow to check in and dismissive of the remedial counseling.

Though now technically a state prisoner, Klinger will be held at the Natrona County Detention Center during the DUI case.