COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – A Sturgis man is looking at spending the next 13 to 25 years in prison after he was sentenced Monday in Branch County Circuit Court in connection with a fatal hit and run crash in Sherwood Township on April 5, 2021.
43-year-old Daniel Gerard Silich entered no contest pleas to charges of Homicide-Manslaughter with a Motor Vehicle, Failure to Stop at the scene of an accident when at fault resulting in death and Tampering with Evidence.
Terms of the plea agreement call for the sentences to be concurrent to the first two counts while the sentencing for the evidence tampering charge will be consecutive to the other two charges.
Judge Bill O’Grady ordered Silich to serve between nine and 15 years on the charges of Homicide-Manslaughter with a Motor Vehicle and Failure to Stop at the scene of an accident when at fault resulting in death.
Silich was given a consecutive sentence of four to ten years for the evidence tampering charge.
Eight other counts were dismissed in exchange for the pleas and Silich was given credit for 363 days already served in jail.
Silich was charged in connection with the hit and run crash which led to the death of 13-year-old Landen Risner.
The youngster was among three children who were struck while they were riding their bikes in the area of Ralston and Arney Roads near their Sherwood Township home.
Silich was arrested on May 5, 2021 following a Michigan State Police investigation. In a statement through his office, Branch County Prosecutor Zach Stempien said, “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, youth of the eye witnesses, effect on the family involved having to testify, and history of the defendant, with the ultimate goal to seek justice for those affected by the Defendant’s action. Considering the above, the Michigan Sentencing Guidelines, the delay in bringing this case to trial due to Covid-19, and the legal difficulties and emotional difficulties in waiting to bring this case to trial, this Office found that a plea to the above crimes with an agreement to a sentence at the top of the sentencing guidelines to be an appropriate resolution of this case.”
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