Charges have been filed and the suspect has been arraigned in the death late last year of 54-year-old Blaine County Undersheriff Pat Pyette.

Mary Louise Stewart, the 61-year-old Hays woman who struck Pyette on U. S. Highway 2 on Dec. 14, pleaded not guilty Monday morning to a felony charge of negligent homicide.

Blaine County Attorney Don Ranstrom said this morning that a few factors were behind the charge.

According to Ranstrom, Stewart was driving "in a fairly excessive speed" of 45 mph in an emergency area, while inattentively singing along with a song on her stereo. Ranstrom also sai...