COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – A Camden man was sentenced Monday in Branch County Circuit Court after entering no contest pleas to charges of OWI causing death and possession of methamphetamine in connection with a fatal Ovid Township accident last October.
33-year-old Michael Daniel Penza was given concurrent sentences of 10 to 15 years for OWI causing death and 38 months to 10 years on the meth charge.
In exchange for the no contest pleas, charges of second degree homicide and possession of marijuana, second offense, were dismissed by prosecutors.
The October 28, 2016 accident on Centennial Road near Lockwood Road took the life of 54-year-old Brenda Hutchison of Coldwater. According to the Michigan State Police report, Penza was driving erratically all over the road at a high rate of speed before the head-on crash.
Hutchison was pronounced dead at the scene. Penza and his daughter were both injured in the accident.
