Unlicensed St. Paul driver sentenced to 5 months plus probation for killing Burnsville priest riding bike

Nick Ferraro, Pioneer Press
Updated ·5 min read

A man who was driving without a license when he fatally struck a Burnsville priest in Rosemount in 2021 was sentenced Wednesday to five months in jail and five years of probation.

Trejean Derrell Curry, 28, of St. Paul, had been convicted nine times for driving without a license prior to hitting the Rev. Dennis Keith Dempsey as the 73-year-old rode his bike on the shoulder of County Road 42 on Oct. 25, 2021, according to court records.

Dempsey, who served the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis for 41 years, was a newly installed priest at the Church of the Risen Savior in Burnsville. Before that, he spent 15 years at the Church of St. Dominic in Northfield.

Under state guidelines, Curry faced a presumptive sentence of four years in jail.

Curry reached a plea deal with Dakota County prosecutors in January and Judge Dannia Edwards accepted it Wednesday and followed the terms.

Curry received a stay of imposition, meaning his felony conviction of criminal vehicular homicide by gross negligence will be reduced to a misdemeanor if he successfully completes the five years of probation.

Curry’s jail sentence can be served in 30-day increments each of the next five years, and the time may be converted to community work service if he is in compliance with probation. Curry was ordered to complete 40 hours of community work service.

Dakota County Attorney Kathy Keena said in a statement that although the outcome was not what her office originally pursued, “I had to reconsider the state’s plea offer because of factual disputes, including an issue related to the speed calculation in the original crash reconstruction report.”

Keena said a pre-plea presentence investigation by Dakota County Community Corrections also recommended a downward dispositional departure from sentencing guidelines.

“For those reasons, and with the approval from the victim’s family, I agreed to the sentence that was imposed today,” Keena said. “My sincere condolences to the friends, family members and loved ones of Father Dempsey.”

Tire scuff mark on license plate

Curry was driving his girlfriend’s Ford Fusion west on County Road 42 near Auburn Avenue about 3:20 p.m. when he struck Dempsey from behind, the March 2022 criminal complaint says. Dempsey, of Apple Valley, died at the scene.

County Road 42 is a four-lane road with two eastbound and two westbound lanes separated by a grassy median. Curry told police he was driving in the right-most westbound lane at the time of the crash, and that Dempsey swerved in front of him.

However, the Minnesota State Patrol determined that Dempsey was on the shoulder of the road when Curry veered from the travel lane and struck him while speeding. Dempsey’s bicycle helmet was found 86 feet from where he ended up.

The State Patrol’s crash analysis found that the skid marks from Curry’s car were to the right of the solid white line that separates the travel lane from the shoulder, and that the skid mark made by Dempsey’s bicycle when he was struck was near the center of the shoulder. The car’s front license plate had a bike tire scuff mark and indentation.

A sample of Curry’s blood found that neither alcohol nor drugs played a role in the crash.

A month before the crash, Curry was convicted of speeding for driving 100 mph in a 70-mph zone and of driving after revocation in July 2021. He was convicted of driving after revocation three times in both 2018 and 2019 and once in March 2021.

The crash investigation also revealed that Curry had never received a driver’s
license in Minnesota or elsewhere, according to a court document filed last year by the prosecution.

Court records show that Curry continued to drive without a license after he was charged in Dempsey’s death and released from jail on a $75,000 bond, with conditions.

Curry was cited for driving after revocation this past September after he was caught on a surveillance camera driving away from the Dakota County Courthouse in Hastings following a hearing on the criminal vehicular homicide-gross negligence charge.

Four decades of service

Dempsey grew up in Minneapolis and was ordained in the Twin Cities archdiocese in 1980.

Parishes he served included St. Pius X in White Bear Lake from 1980-1984 and St. Francis de Sales and St. James in St. Paul from 1999 to 2004. After that, he went to St. Dominic in Northfield, serving as pastor from 2004 to 2019.

In July 2019, he left to work a second time for the archdiocesan mission in Venezuela, where he served from 1993 to 1999 and learned Spanish.

“He lived among people in extreme poverty and desperation,” retired Rev. Kevin Clinton, Dempsey’s friend of nearly 60 years, told the court in a victim impact statement. “He was victimized by theft, robbery and oppressive government policies. He presided at funerals created by gun violence. His love of the people, knowledge of their language and culture bonded his life with theirs.”

Dempsey returned to the Twin Cities four months before his Burnsville assignment.

Dempsey was skilled in bringing people of different backgrounds together, his brother Brian Dempsey told the court.

“I’ve been told in just two months at Risen Savior, Dennis got the Anglo and Hispanic communities to really appreciate each other and to cooperate in the liturgy and the religious and social life of the parish,” he said.

Dempsey did “a lot of good in this world, accomplished a lot wherever he was,” said his brother, adding that he visited him at all the parishes he served. “I saw his dedication and love for everyone. And the love returned to him.”

Dempsey’s brother said he wanted to hear “clear and true contrition” from Curry. “I am certain that Dennis would also want Mr. Curry to become a contributing member of society,” he said. “He would want Mr. Curry to work to create a better life for himself and his family and friends.”

Curry apologized when Judge Edwards gave him the chance to address the court, saying: “I am sorry. This is not something I wanted, and I hope that they can forgive … and see that I am honest and sincere.”

Edwards told Curry that she appreciated him “taking ownership” and added, “I hope that moving forward in life you do what (Dempsey’s family) asks of you and you become a productive citizen.”

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