Daughter will plead for father’s freedom at sentencing

By Thomas Nelson, tnelson@charlescitypress.com

Eleven-year-old MaryJane Schmitz will be testifying on behalf of her father, Anthony Schmitz, on Monday, July 3, at the Floyd County Courthouse, regarding a traffic accident that left her and three others injured.

MaryJane still has scar around her eye from the incident. She will be giving a statement during her father’s sentencing hearing.

Schmitz, who goes by Tony, pleaded guilty in March to child endangerment resulting in serious injury and serious injury by a vehicle. He tested positive for illegal drugs in his system after the crash.

He spent the month of February in jail for the crash that injured him, his children and Heather Meyer, 52, of Bassett.

On Dec. 20, Schmitz was driving on Highway 18, taking his daughters to dance practice when he hit black ice and crashed head-on into another vehicle, he said.

The crash occurred on Highway 18, on the east side of Charles City.

Meyer was driving her GMC Denali eastbound out of Charles City while a Buick Terraza minivan driven by Schmitz, with two girls as passengers, MaryJane and her sister Miale, was traveling west into town. The vehicles collided at close to highway speeds.

Meyer, Schmitz and Mary Jane were all critically injured and flown to the Mayo Clinic. Miale was taken to Floyd County Medical Center.

Schmitz ended up in the hospital for seven days after the incident.

“I got 10 screws in my hip, and they got to put a new one in July 26,” he said. In addition to his broken hip, he also broke his femur, evidenced by his current limp.

This was Schmidt’s second time in the hospital for accidents in 2016.

On Sept. 2 he was trapped in a flaming U-Haul truck and had third degree burns on 15 percent of his body, he said. The scars from the incident are still visible on his arms and hands.

“I had drugs in my system and they want to send me to prison for 10 years and five years,” Schmitz said. “It doesn’t do any good to send me to prison. Rehab would be much better.”

He maintains that the crash was an accident. “I hit that spot of black ice,” Schmitz said.

Schmitz said he was addicted to drugs for many years, but was clean for four years prior to his September accident.

After being stuck in the flaming U-Haul, he relapsed.

His daughters don’t want to him to go to prison and plan to speak on his behalf at his sentencing hearing Monday.

MaryJane has sought out public and media support and asked that the letter she intends to read at her dad’s sentencing hearing be published. Here are parts of her letter as she wrote it:

“My name is MaryJane Elizabeth Schmitz I am almost 12 years old. My dad Tony Schmitz is a good dad and in regards to accident I have no hard feelings towards my dad it was accident. According to the American Medical Association and the American Society of Addiction medicine, addiction is defined as a disease, like diabeetus, cancer, and heart disease. Addiction is caused by a combination of Behavioral, Environmental, in biological and genetic factors and I got that from www.centeronaddictions.org.

“My dad is an addict and he has done so well for so long. two months be for our accident my dad was in another accident trapped in a U-Haul that exploded. he almost burned to death. now I can’t imagine what that would do to a person and I’m not justifying the fact that he used but I do not think meth is the reason why we got into an accident the roads were icy it was slick and I don’t think person warrants my dad’s crime. Drug addiction is treated like any other chronic illness with relapse serving as a trigger for renewed intervention.. I think may be should get some help so we can learn new ways to deal with his addiction

“I’m going to be 12 years old and I can’t imagine life without my dad. Our dance recital is on June 3rd… he is our biggest fan and has never missed one, next year is our father daughter dance I have been waiting for. It has been 4 years since his last episode ( that is what my mom calls it) 4 years since has used… he is our everything so please, I don’t want to spend the rest of my childhood with my dad in prison my brothers and sisters don’t want to either. I think he needs to go back to his Rehabilitation counselor not prison….

“my name is MaryJane Elizabeth Schmitz— I am going to be twelve years old… As for my injuries I am fine … I have a small scar above my eye and I am proud to wear it… It is part of my story….. Thank you for listening to me.”

MaryJane sustained severe injuries in the accident, said her mother and Anthony’s wife, Anna Schmitz.

“MaryJane had 14 facial fractures, a brain injury, a broken arm and a punctured lung. Her lip was split. She has laceration right above her eye,” Anna said. Miale had surgery in Charles City to pin a broken arm, and had little burns on her lip from the minivan’s air bag.

After the September incident Anthony Schmitz had been unable to work.

“It’s kind of stressful, especially being in construction before that,” he said.

Schmitz currently lives with his mother in Ionia, he said.

After the December accident, authorities found drugs in his system, Anna said.

“It doesn’t matter, at the end of the day dirty is dirty,” she said. “He’s been in treatment.”

Anna thinks that Schmitz’s burns from the September accident led to his relapse.

“He looked terrible,” she said. “I didn’t even know it was my own husband.”

Anna doesn’t believe that Schmitz was high when he drove the girls to their dance practice Dec. 20, she said.

“If I would’ve thought he was under the influence of drugs I wouldn’t have let them in the car,” Anna said. “I would’ve taken them myself, but it stays in your system.”

Prior to the accident, Anna told Schmitz that she intended to file for divorce because of his changed demeanor after the September accident, she said.

“I thought something wasn’t right,” Anna said. “And he left and didn’t come home until Friday.”

Schmitz never left their home after that, Anna said.

“I don’t allow drugs to cross the threshold of my home,” she said. “I don’t care, that’s where me and my kids have to live.”

“I know he wasn’t high,” Anna said.

The only time Anthony could’ve done drugs was on Thursday, but since the drugs stay in one’s system, his actions Tuesday could lead to him going to prison, Anna said, conceding that is the likely outcome.

“I feel terrible about it,” Schmitz said, “but it was an accident.”

MaryJane believes it was an accident as well, and wants to speak at his sentencing to tell people that the crash wasn’t her father’s fault.

Going to a counselor and not to jail is what MaryJane and Miale hope comes from the sentencing, she said.

“She doesn’t want to spend her childhood without her dad,” Anna Schmitz said. “Tony is an amazing dad, he’s an amazing person. I don’t know what went through his mind that night,” she said. “But, unfortunately these are the consequences of everything.”

Anna no longer intends to divorce Schmitz.

“I stand right beside him,” she said.

Schmitz is out on bail until his sentencing and has spent time with his children when he can, but must have a representative of the Department of Human Services present when he is with them.

Miale and MaryJane are both involved in their school at New Hampton, in both band and choir. They both play clarinet, they said.

MaryJane is a 4.0 student and hasn’t lost her 4.0 status throughout the accident and its aftermath, Anna said.

“At least once a week she missed school — never lost her 4.0,” Anna said.

Outside of the occasional headache, MaryJane never had much difficulty during her recovery, Anna said.

“I don’t think my kids need to be punished for this,” Schmitz said. “If they want to do something, they might as well give me some help. So I can stay clean longer.”