COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – A Fremont, Indiana man entered a no contest plea on Tuesday in Branch County Circuit Court to a charge of O.W.I. Causing Death in connection with a Algansee Township crash in June of 2019 which took the lives of three children as well as a unborn child.
23-year-old Tyler Frye entered into a plea agreement that was worked out by Prosecutor Zach Stempien and defense attorney Fred Taylor which calls for Frye to get a prison sentence of between 42 months and 15 years.
In exchange for Frye’s plea, all other charges will be dismissed by prosecutors. A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for June 30.
Stempien said in a statement released by his office, “In determining what, if any, plea should be offered in this case, the Branch County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office considered multiple factors, including the victim’s position, age of the case, strength of the case, potential sentence, and history of the defendant, with the ultimate goal to seek justice for those affected by the Defendant’s action. Michigan Courts are required to consult sentencing guidelines in levying a term of incarceration, which determines the range of the minimum term of incarceration. Considering the likely Michigan Sentencing Guidelines, the victims’ position towards sentencing and involvement in the prosecution of this case, the Defendant’s history, and the ongoing year and a half long prohibition against jury trials in Branch County due to COVID-19, this Office found that a plea to the most serious charge for which the Defendant was charged a just resolution of this case.”
Taylor filed a pair of suppression requests surrounding Frye’s blood draw by police claiming there was a lack of valid consent but those requests were denied. The case was bound over to Branch County Circuit Court in September of 2019 following a two-and-a-half hour preliminary examination.
Michigan State Police said at the time that 6-year-old Lillian Graber, 4-year-old Moses Graber and 2-year-old Jacob Graber died after a pickup truck driven by Frye hit the back of their Amish horse-drawn carriage on Kelley Road south of Lester Road.
The mother of the fatal victims was pregnant and lost her baby. She along with another child were seriously injured.
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