Man pleads guilty to manslaughter in fatal Dexter crash

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- After nearly a year of proclaiming his innocence, James Jankowski has pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter.

As speculated earlier this week, Jankowski plead guilty to the Class B felony of involuntary manslaughter in an appearance before Presiding Circuit Judge Stephen R. Sharp Wednesday morning.

As part of the plea agreement, the state dropped the previous charges of the Class A felony of second-degree murder and the Class C felony of driving while intoxicated (prior and persistent offender).

"There is a reason that I file numerous charges against a person," said Stoddard County Prosecuting Attorney Briney Welborn. "When they have several charges filed against them and see what they could be facing, it makes it easier to get them to plead guilty to at least one of the charges filed."

As Welborn predicted, Sharp ordered that a Sentence Assessment Report (SAR) be conducted by the Missouri Board of Probation and Parole. A sentencing hearing will be held at 10:30 a.m. March.

Jankowski admitted that on March 30, 2007, he operated a vehicle in a criminally negligent manner while under the influence of alcohol and marijuana and hit a vehicle being driven by 48-year-old Richard "Rick" Watkins head-on.

Cape Girardeau County Coroner John Clifton pronounced Watkins dead at 3:25 a.m., March 31, from injuries sustained in the wreck.