WAUPACA COUNTY (NBC 26 — Scott Farmer, the Neenah man charged with four counts of homicide in connection to a car crash in December that killed four siblings, pleaded no contest to the charges and was found guilty.
Prosecutors said Farmer was driving while intoxicated in the town of Weyauwega in Waupaca County when he hit the family's car on December 16.
Farmer is charged with one count of operating a vehicle while intoxicated, and four counts of homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle and operating while revoked, causing death.
It was Farmer's fifth OWI charge.
In court, he pleaded no contest to all five charges.
A judge found Farmer guilty.
Kurt Schilling is the stepfather to 25-year-old Daniel, 23-year-old Fabian, 14-year-old Lilian and 9-year-old Daniela Gonzalez, who all died in the crash. He said the family was hoping for a guilty plea from Farmer.
"It would have been nice to hear him say, 'I was guilty' of the deaths of our four children," Schilling said.
But Schilling said the family is glad they don’t have to go to trial.
"Who wants to go through all those details and, and have all of that drug up?" Schilling said.
For all five charges combined, Farmer faces up to 170 years behind bars and up to a $420,000 fine: 40 years and a fine of $100,000 for each of the homicide charges, and 10 years and a $20,000 fine for the drinking and driving charge.
"We just want the safety of everybody for the future, and don't want him to be able to hurt another family the way he so greatly hurt us," Schilling said.
The Gonzalez siblings’ mother Paulina, speaking through her niece Emily Munoz-Gonzalez translating, said this process has been difficult for their family.
"She's a little relieved that now after this very time-consuming process has finally come down to something that will soon be decided, and she is just grateful for that, but still dealing with all the pain," Munoz-Gonzalez said.
The Gonzalez family has another child, Jorge, who is in Ecuador.
The family has been trying to bring him to the U.S. legally.
"The son that's in Ecuador is not doing that well without the support of his mother and extended family," Schilling said.
