Appeals judge criticizes news story on DWI arrest

One of Minnesota’s highest court officials is lashing out at at least one media organization over the reporting of her DWI arrest late last year.

Minnesota Court of Appeals Judge Renee Worke, of Owatonna, used the Steele County Free Fair as her venue last week to confront and verbally attack the Steele County Times over its news coverage of her DWI arrest last November. She, along with her husband, Mark Ditlevson, who is a fair board director, targeted reporter Kay Fate on Aug. 19 at the newspaper’s commercial booth in the Four Seasons Centre at during the SCFF.

Worke said she was “disappointed and disgusted” by the way she had been portrayed in the coverage. She defended her behavior the night of the incident and said the story “should have been about how bad things happen to good people.”

No previous complaint had been made to the newspaper about the coverage from eight months ago, according to Publisher Rick Bussler.

“To berate a news reporter at such a public venue as the county fair seems unprofessional and unethical for someone as powerful as Judge Worke,” said Bussler. “She is the human face of the law and holds the power to take away a person’s freedom. When a judge breaks the law or acts unfairly, it breaks the public’s trust in the entire justice system.”

Worke was arrested by a Steele County sheriff’s deputy over Thanksgiving weekend 2025. At the time, she was found with her vehicle stuck in a snowbank; the criminal complaint indicated her blood alcohol level was .16, double the legal limit. Within weeks, she pleaded guilty to a reduced misdemeanor charge and given up to one year of probation.

In February, Worke was publicly reprimanded by the Minnesota Board on Judicial Standards concerning her conduct from the DWI incident.

“Given a judge’s knowledge of the countless and devastating effects of impaired driving, and their role in adjudicating civil and criminal cases related to impaired driving, there is no excuse for a judge to drive impaired,” the reprimand stated. “Judge Worke’s misconduct was serious, violated the law, and caused harm to the public confidence in the judiciary.”

Bussler defends the newspaper’s reporting of Worke’s DWI. He noted the Times was one of dozens of media outlets to report on the initial incident. “Our reporting simply reflected what was outlined in police reports and court documents,” he said.

“We are the watchdog. If a judge gets a DWI or breaks a law, the public expects the judge to be treated exactly like any other citizen would be treated,” Bussler said.

In last week’s edition, the Times reported that Worke’s attorney, Daniel McIntosh, is accusing the county of violating the Data Practices Act. The accusation is creating legal wrangling in which McIntosh claims the county improperly released probation data.

Worke left a voicemail at the Times office on Sunday afternoon apologizing for last week’s fair incident, which has been reported to the Steele County Fair Board and Minnesota Board on Judicial Standards for review of misconduct and ethics violations.