Father sentenced to probation, ordered to pay prosecution costs in drinking case

MADISON - The 59-year-old Madison man charged in connection with a party that led to a young man’s death must serve one year of probation and pay prosecution costs.
The misdemeanor charge against Gary Hastad for violating the Lac qui Parle County alcohol ordinance was continued for dismissal Wednesday. That means the charge will be dismissed from his criminal record if he successfully completes probation and the various other conditions of his sentence.
Hastad was charged under the county’s “social host” ordinance in connection with the March 8 party attended by Michael Any-asike, 18, of Dawson, who died of hypothermia after fleeing the party when law enforcement arrived.  
Hastad is not accused of being at the party, but the criminal complaint charges that he should have known about the party. The complaint alleges that other parties had been hosted at the farm place, and that snow had been cleared at the site.
As part of his sentence handed down Wednesday by District Judge Thomas Van Hon, Hastad was ordered to pay $1,000 in prosecution costs and serve a year of unsupervised probation and was also ordered to not commit any similar crime and not allow illegal use of controlled substances or alcohol on his property.
Hastad’s son, Erik Patrick Hastad, 19, of Madison, and five others were sentenced early this month in the case. The younger Hastad was sentenced to two years of probation and 30 days in jail, in two 15-day segments this month and next June.
Anyasike, a Dawson-Boyd High School senior, was among an estimated 100 youths attending the party, hosted by Erik Hastad, at an unoccupied farm site formerly owned by his late uncle in Hantho Township.
A number of the youths fled when law enforcement officers arrived that night, including Anyasike. His body was found on March 9 at a farm site about one mile from the site of the party He died of hypothermia with alcohol as a contributing factor, according to the medical examiner’s report.