Drunken driver admits killing elderly Seattle couple

SEATTLE – A repeat drunken driver who plowed his pickup into a Seattle family earlier this year, killing two grandparents and badly hurting a mother and her newborn son, pleaded guilty Thursday to charges of vehicular homicide and vehicular assault.

Mark Mullan, 51, faces a recommended term of 18 years in prison when he is sentenced in King County Superior Court next month.

Mullan, a journeyman electrician with five prior drunken driving arrests, had a blood-alcohol content about three times the legal limit when he hit the family as they crossed a street in the Wedgwood neighborhood in broad daylight March 25. He was on probation from a recent case, his license was suspended, and he was supposed to have installed an ignition interlock device in his truck.

New grandparents Judy and Dennis Schulte, retired teachers from Kokomo, Ind., who had recently moved to Seattle, were killed. Their daughter-in-law, Karina Ulriksen-Schulte and her son, Elias, were injured. Ulriksen-Schulte suffered a broken pelvis and head injury, and her injuries caused a stroke that has limited her speech. But her husband, Dan Schulte, said she is walking and talking more, is almost ready to come home from a rehabilitation center and sees their son almost every day.

Elias, who was 10 days old at the time, sustained skull fractures. He has had one major brain surgery and is due to have another when he turns 1, to relieve pressure caused by fluid on his brain. He is mostly acting like a normal baby, Schulte said, but there are concerns about his vision.

While he would have preferred to see Mullan sentenced to life in prison, Schulte told reporters after the court hearing that the plea would allow the family to focus on recovery as well as the legacy of his parents.

“While nothing can undo the damage to our family,” Schulte said, with his sister by his side, “we’re relieved he has decided to accept responsibility for his actions.”

The case prompted calls for tougher DUI laws. The family has sued the city, alleging it failed to monitor Mullan.

Schulte sat in the courtroom behind Mullan as the defendant looked down, frowning and sobbing briefly as he repeated “guilty” five times, including to a charge of violating the ignition interlock device law.