COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – Branch County Visiting Circuit Judge Amy Ronayne Krause has ruled that Zachary Adams, the Fort Wayne man charged in the deadly August 3, 2024, boat collision on Coldwater Lake, cannot present evidence or argument claiming intoxication as a defense at his upcoming trial.
Adams, now 46, faces counts of negligent crippling homicide, fourth-degree child abuse, false reporting of a felony, and reckless operation of a vessel in connection with the high-speed crash that killed 46-year-old Cory Butler of Grabill, Indiana.
Court records show Adams initially fled the scene and later told investigators his then-15-year-old daughter had been driving because he was “too drunk to drive,” after officers noted a strong odor of intoxicants; the court barred any attempt to use voluntary intoxication to negate the mental state required for the charges.
The ruling clears the way for Adams’s trial, scheduled to begin in January 2027.
Prosecutors have maintained that Adams was operating the speedboat that struck and flipped onto Butler’s vessel around 11 p.m., while his wife, Tasha Adams, earlier pleaded no contest to lying to police about who was at the helm and received two years of probation.
The decision underscores that Michigan law does not recognize voluntary intoxication as a defense to the offenses charged, focusing the case instead on evidence of reckless operation and the false statements made after the fatal collision
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