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The tragic case involving a 20-year-old man accused of killing his older brother in a drunk-driving collision north of Stratford appeared before a judge Monday morning.

Carl Kuepfer was arrested and charged after a single-car crash on Road 131 in Perth East where the passenger, his 24-year-old brother, Gary, was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. The younger Kuepfer, from Wellington North Township, was arrested and charged with impaired operation of a motor vehicle causing death, and driving with over 80 milligrams of alcohol in blood causing death, police said.

On Monday in a Stratford courtroom, defence lawyer Nicholas Wansbutter requested a four-week adjournment of the case to review disclosure and discuss the matter with the Crown.

“It’s a fairly substantial amount of disclosure,” he explained the reasoning for the nearly month-long adjournment.

“We’re content with that,” Crown attorney Mary Potter said.

Ontario Court Justice Kathryn McKerlie approved the request; the matter will return on May 28 at 10:30 a.m.

The crash occurred shortly before 8:30 p.m. on April 6, a Friday night featuring slippery roads throughout the county. The deceased had to be extricated from the vehicle by emergency responders.

Kuepfer was held in custody that weekend and released on bail the following Monday under conditions that he not consume alcohol, drive a vehicle, or even sit in the driver’s seat of a car. His employer, Aron Van Pelt of Van Pelt Construction Inc. in Mitchell, was named his surety.


Source: Stratford Beacon Herald