Justice For Danni Jo Thiel Halted By Law Change

10/3/11 – The Dodge County District Attorney announced on Friday that he is legally prohibited from prosecuting the drunk driver who killed Danni Jo Thiel. The Beaver Dam woman was 14-years-old in August of 2001 when three-time drunk driver Nicholas Gross drove head-on into her parents van in Horicon. She spent the next ten years bedridden. Danni Jo died this past May and autopsy results confirming the car accident as the cause of death. Until 2003, Wisconsin and several other states observed the “year-and-a-day” common law rule that prevented prosecution if a person died more than a year after sustaining injuries. In 2003, the Wisconsin Supreme Court overturned the rule but it was not retroactive. Danni Jo’s father Dan Thiel says he is disappointed in the determination but says he understands. Gross was sentenced to ten years in prison for death of Danni Jo’s mother, Sue Thiel. The 32-year-old will be released from prison in May.