ST. JOHNS — The criminal case against a Perrinton woman accused on driving into a group of pedestrians on a rural Clinton County roadside more than a year ago, killing two of them, has been resolved short of trial.
Ashley Marie Monroe, 36, pleaded no contest to one count of second-degree murder and eight counts of driving while intoxicated causing serious injury, on Wednesday, Aug. 13, with an agreement her minimum prison sentence will be 30 years. She could receive a maximum sentence of up to life in prison.
Monroe had faced 15 counts in connection with the May 18, 2024 tragedy on South Wacousta Road, in front of Gloria Miller Looking Glass Valley Park, in Watertown Township.
Flanked by her legal team of Edwar Zeineh, right, and Cooper Dobie, Ashley Monroe, 35, of Perrington, listens while a first responder gives his testimony during her preliminary examination in Clinton County District Court, Friday, Dec. 6, 2024.
Johnathan Esch, 30, a Lansing Township firefighter, and Daniel Harris, 42, were killed when Monroe’s vehicle crashed into a group of extended family members who had walked the short distance from a home to the park. More than a dozen others were injured, with some suffering massive bone fractures, head trauma or other injuries that could have been life-threatening.
In all, 17 members of the family had walked to the park that day, about half of them children. The pedestrians were gathered along a guardrail, with some on them on the road side and some on the other side, when they were hit, witnesses said.
Monroe had a blood-alcohol level of 0.195 − more than twice the legal limit − after the crash and had taken prescription drugs with adverse side effects, according to testimony in an earlier hearing.
She kept driving and was stopped by Clinton County Sheriff’s deputies who spotted her damaged SUV some distance from the crash scene.
The first deputy on the scene described finding “a trail of destruction of motor vehicle parts, clothing, shoes.” A badly injured young boy lay along the shoulder of the road, and other victims − including the two who were killed − lay nearby, he said.
Other deputies spotted a beige SUV with collision damage heading east on Howe Road and stopped the driver, who had rolled partially onto the grassy shoulder area as she drove, according to testimony. Pieces of the vehicle were falling off onto the road or shoulder, witnesses said.
Monroe smelled of alcohol and had red, bloodshot eyes, deputies testified. A nearly empty pint bottle of whiskey was found in her purse, along with two pill bottles, they said.
The vehicle’s passenger-side front fender had been torn off, the hood was buckled and the windshield was shattered.
Monroe initially was charged with 11 felony counts in connection with the crash. A judge agreed to add four other counts, including two counts of second-degree murder, after conducting a preliminary hearing.
Chief Assistant Clinton County Prosecutor Debra Martinez argued Monroe’s conduct was so egregious that it amounts to a “willful and wanton disregard” that the likelihood of her actions might result in someone’s death or serious injury.
Witnesess testified that all of the crash victims were to the right of the fog line, and not on the road, Martinez said. Moreover, a witness testified that he saw the female driver holding a hand over her mouth as she drove away, in a possible expression of shock, she said.
“She had every reason to know she just struck human beings” but continued driving, the prosecutor said.
A no-contest plea is not an admission of guilt but is treated as a conviction.
Second-degree murder carries a penalty of any term of years up to life, and driving while intoxicated causing serious injury is a maximum five-year felony.
Contact Ken Palmer at kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on X @KBPalm_lsj.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Ashley Monroe pleads no contest in fatal crash on Wacousta Road