LANSING, MI (WTVB) – The Michigan Court of Appeals has upheld the sentencing of a Fort Wayne man who plead no contest to a charge of operating while intoxicated, causing serious injuries after an April 2021 crash in Branch County’s California Township.
Investigators say 35-year-old Evan Kerr ran a stop sign at Copeland Road and South Fremont Road, hitting a vehicle driven by 73-year-old James Wagenknecht of Hamilton, Indiana April 2, 2021. Police said Kerr had methadone and marijuana in his blood, and his speed was over 65 MPH with bad brakes on his vehicle.
In June 2023 Branch County Circuit Judge Bill O’Grady sentenced Kerr to the maximum of 39 months to five years in prison. Kerr had plead no contest to the crime in a plea bargain for a maximum of 18 months in prison but failed to appear for sentencing in May 2023, voiding the agreement.
Kerr appealed his sentence, but the three judge Court of Appeals panel said “The trial court was not required to consider mitigating factors during sentencing, and we see no error in the court’s clearly articulated sentencing rationale.”
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