HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A local man charged with involuntary manslaughter entered a plea this week, one day before his trial was set to begin. 

Dawson Lehman entered pleas to three counts of aggravated battery and one count of vehicular homicide — a misdemeanor, according to Assistant District Attorney Natasha Esau.

He was the driver in a rollover accident where 15-year-old Aaron Powers died from his injuries on June 24, 2015. Powers and 15-year-old Dalton Stoecklein were both passengers in Lehman’s vehicle. They were both taken to a Wichita hospital, where Powers died.

The truck went out of control and left the road in the 11000 block of East 43rd. It rolled over several times before coming to rest in a wheat field near Rayl Road. Sheriff’s deputies and Kansas Highway Patrol units arrived on the scene and found the two 15-year-olds lying in the middle of the road.

Since Lehman entered pleas, the case falls into a border box within the sentencing guidelines. Judge Trish Rose would have the option of sending him to prison or granting some form of probation.

Lehman will be sentenced on June 22.