A St. Paul man was sentenced to four years in prison Monday for a crash that killed a 42-year-old father of three after prosecutors say he sped through a red light with methamphetamine in his system. Paw Moo Htoo pleaded guilty in April to criminal vehicular homicide for operating a vehicle with a Schedule II controlled substance present, admitting he crashed his Honda into another car after running the light at Dale Street and Arlington Avenue.
According to the Pioneer Press, the collision happened just after 7:30 p.m. on May 11, 2025, killing Marvin Martin Scroggins, a Little Canada and Saint Paul resident who left behind his parents and three children, Marvin IV, Makayla, and Avyana, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune. Scroggins was remembered at a memorial service at the Roseville Oval last August, the paper reported. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 8:08 p.m., per the Pioneer Press account, after police, medics and other responders worked to extricate him from a Volvo XC90 whose driver's side had been lifted into the air by the force of the impact, according to FOX 9.
What Witnesses Saw Versus What Investigators Found
A witness reported the Honda was speeding west on Arlington Avenue before it slammed into the Volvo in the middle of the intersection, the Pioneer Press reported. Initial charging documents and eyewitness accounts described Htoo driving over 100 mph, but formal crash reconstruction later put the impact speed at 60 to 74 mph, with braking believed to have begun somewhere between 64 and 78 mph, according to prosecutors cited by the same outlet. Arlington Avenue carries a posted speed limit of 25 mph.
Police also found nine empty beer cans inside Htoo's Honda at the scene, the Pioneer Press reported. Htoo was transported to Regions Hospital and underwent emergency surgery for his injuries. Investigators later obtained a search warrant to draw his blood at 10:05 p.m. that night, sending the sample to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension for testing, according to FOX 9's reporting. The results came back negative for alcohol but showed significant levels of amphetamine and methamphetamine, according to the criminal complaint.
Htoo initially told investigators, “I was not driving. I was not the driver,” according to the Pioneer Press. He ultimately pleaded guilty in April to one count of criminal vehicular homicide tied to the drug finding, and two additional criminal vehicular homicide charges were dismissed as part of the plea agreement.
The Legal Standard Behind the Charge
Minnesota law treats driving with any detectable amount of a Schedule I or Schedule II controlled substance, including methamphetamine, resulting in death as criminal vehicular homicide on its own — prosecutors don't have to separately prove the driver was physically impaired, according to Arneson & Geffen PLLC. Under Minnesota Statute § 609.2112, the felony carries up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine, per Johnson Erickson Law.
Prosecutors had pushed for a 57-month sentence, the high end of the state guideline range, the Pioneer Press reported. Htoo's assistant public defender, Carole Finneran, argued he was particularly amenable to treatment and probation, telling the court that public safety would be better served by a longer monitoring period rather than incarceration. Htoo had completed treatment while on conditional release from jail and was in an aftercare program at the time of sentencing, according to the same report.
How This Sentence Fits a Statewide Pattern
The four-year term Htoo ultimately received matches the 48-month minimum term for the offense. It also lands in the minority of outcomes statewide: according to Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission data reported by Hoodline's coverage of a related Ramsey County sentencing, 46 percent of people sentenced for criminal vehicular homicide in Minnesota between 2020 and 2024 received probation or workhouse time instead of prison, with 81 of 177 defendants statewide receiving such departures.
Impaired driving was linked to 23 percent of fatally injured drivers in 2024. Traffic fatalities remain a concern in Minnesota. The intersection where Scroggins died is posted at 25 mph.
