A Tennessee semi driver who prosecutors say was streaming Netflix on his phone as he approached a construction zone on Interstate 35 in southern Minnesota has pleaded guilty to all three charges against him, ending a case that began with a crash that killed an Iowa couple more than three years ago. Billy Joe Grimes, 57, entered the guilty plea on Monday, October 26, 2026, according to Rice County court records reported by KROC-AM News. He pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal vehicular homicide and one count of criminal vehicular operation. No jury trial will now be held, and Grimes is scheduled to be sentenced on March 17, 2027.
Source: KROC-AM News via Rochester Now
The crash happened in August 2023 on northbound Interstate 35 south of Faribault, in Rice County, Minnesota. Matthew Henry Hansen, 57, and Cimberly Ellen Hansen, 56, of Urbandale, Iowa, were travelling north in a car when it was struck by Grimes' northbound semi. The semi also hit a northbound pickup truck. Both passenger vehicles were slowing for a construction zone that had reduced the interstate to a single lane in each direction near Faribault.
What happened on Interstate 35
According to the criminal complaint, witnesses told Minnesota State Patrol troopers they saw Grimes looking down moments before the crash, unable to stop for the slowed traffic ahead of him. The complaint says Grimes passed five signs warning motorists of the upcoming construction zone and instructing drivers to slow down for merging traffic at the start of the work zone. A reconstruction of the crash found the truck's cruise control was set between 67 and 68 miles per hour, and investigators found no evidence that Grimes attempted to brake before the collision. Prosecutors said he was travelling at 68 mph at impact and was distracted to the extent that he failed to apply the brakes before crashing into the Hansens' Toyota.
Investigators relied heavily on camera evidence. Dash-camera and roadside-camera footage showed Grimes streaming a Netflix show on his phone moments before the deadly crash, according to the charges. The driver-facing dash camera led investigators to determine that Grimes was watching a Netflix show as he approached the stopped or slow-moving traffic at the construction zone.
Grimes gave investigators a different account of the phone. He told officers he had been downloading an episode of the show Rust Valley Restorers from Netflix at the time of the crash, said the episode was for later, and denied using his phone in the moments before the crash. He told troopers he had 'just a split second, a couple seconds' to react to the stopped cars. 'I just didn't have time to stop, I didn't have time to react and I couldn't stop the truck,' he said, citing the heavy load. He also told officers he could not remember whether he had applied the brakes before impact. Those statements are his account to investigators; the guilty plea means a jury will never be asked to weigh them against the camera and reconstruction evidence.
What is solid
- Grimes pleaded guilty on October 26, 2026, to two counts of criminal vehicular homicide and one count of criminal vehicular operation, per Rice County court records
- The August 2023 crash on I-35 near Faribault killed Matthew Henry Hansen, 57, and Cimberly Ellen Hansen, 56, of Urbandale, Iowa
- Crash reconstruction found cruise control set at 67–68 mph and no evidence of braking before impact
- Sentencing is scheduled for March 17, 2027
What is only claimed
- Whether Grimes was actively watching Netflix at the moment of the crash: investigators say dash-camera footage showed streaming; Grimes told officers he was only downloading an episode for later and denied using the phone in the moments before impact
The case, from charges to plea
Grimes was charged in April 2024, roughly eight months after the crash. He originally pleaded not guilty and, nearly a year ago, requested a jury trial. That position held until this week, when he switched his plea to guilty on all three counts, as reported by CDLLife and We Are Iowa Local 5 News. By pleading guilty, Grimes gives up the trial and moves directly to sentencing, where the judge will decide his punishment for the two deaths and the vehicular-operation count.
Grimes is scheduled to be sentenced on March 17, 2027, in Rice County. The plea removes the jury trial that had been expected; the remaining court step is the sentencing hearing itself.
Why this case matters on the trucking corridors
Interstate 35 is one of the central north–south freight corridors of the United States, running from Texas to Minnesota, and construction zones that squeeze it to one lane in each direction are a routine hazard for long-haul drivers — including the many Punjabi truckers who run Midwestern routes. This case turns on three things every professional driver is trained on: the orange warning signs that arrive well before a work zone, the following distance a loaded truck needs to stop — at 68 mph a heavy semi needs the length of several football fields — and the driver-facing dash camera, which in this investigation became the decisive record of what was happening in the cab. Investigators said that record showed a streamed show playing as traffic slowed ahead; the reconstruction then showed cruise control still set near highway speed and no braking at all.
For drivers, the practical lesson written into the court file is stark: five warning signs, a single-lane construction zone and stopped traffic ahead still ended with a truck arriving at full highway speed. The Hansens, a married couple from Urbandale driving north through Minnesota, did not survive it. The case now rests with the Rice County court, which will sentence Grimes in March 2027. Reporting in this story is based on Rice County court records and the criminal complaint as reported by KROC-AM News, CDLLife and We Are Iowa Local 5 News.