This is stuff I'm talking about....in the same state - Michigan - that goes sending people up the river on 2nd degree murder for drunk driving deaths, if your sober and on spite go through a red light and kill, then its much different, should you even go to jail-not prison-but jail for up to a year ? ...."Judge Ronald Lowe, calling it perhaps the hardest decision he has faced in 18 years on the bench"......what so f'n hard, he KILLED two young people in his car (co workers who needed a ride home)...he slowed down to 14...18 mph and then sped up..he seen the red light and slowed down but then went though it and got T bone by somebody who thought he was going to stop for the light...
so what he was sober.....stuff like this piss me off..people driving actions and what happen should matter the most..,,here this "murderer" will be back on the road driving with in a few years most likely....
http://www.hometownlife.com/article...e-fatality?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Frontpage
Grieving relatives implored a 35th District Court judge Monday to impose a jail sentence on a driver accused of ignoring a flashing red light in Canton and causing a two-car crash that killed Belleville teens Brooke Kennedy and Danielle Beavers, passengers in his car.
However, a defense attorney portrayed Rufus Thomas Brandon II, 24, as a remorseful preacher’s son and college student who shouldn’t be jailed for a tragic decision he made while driving sober through the intersection of Michigan Avenue and Belleville Road shortly after 2 a.m. July 24.
Judge Ronald Lowe, calling it perhaps the hardest decision he has faced in 18 years on the bench, has set a Nov. 13 sentencing date for Brandon, who could face a maximum one-year jail term and a longer probation sentence. He pleaded no contest Monday to one count of a moving violation causing a death, and a second count was dismissed.
Outside the courtroom, Kennedy’s maternal grandmother, Denice Gabany, had fought back tears as she worried that Brandon might receive probation Monday.
“How can it be that two girls who were just starting their lives died — and their lives are only worth probation?” she asked. “Where is the justice behind that? It just doesn’t make sense.”
Gabany said her daughter — Kennedy’s mother — has been so distraught she couldn’t even go to court.
“Brooke wasn’t just her daughter. She was her best friend,” Gabany said. “She lost part of her soul.”
Inside the courtroom, Gabany and others pleaded with Lowe to give Brandon jail time amid statements by Eric Sterbis, the prosecuting attorney, that Brandon came to “a rolling stop” and drove through a flashing red signal. According to the car’s black-box data, Sterbis said Brandon slowed to 14-18 mph and had reached 25 mph when the passenger side of his vehicle was struck.
Brandon was driving his Chevrolet Cavalier southbound when it was struck by a Monte Carlo being driven eastbound along Michigan Avenue by a 21-year-old Westland man on his way home from work, authorities have said. Brandon was taking Kennedy and Beavers home from work after a gathering at the nearby Ruby Tuesday, where they all worked. Alcohol was not a factor in the crash.
Beavers’ relatives didn’t attend Monday’s court hearing, but Lowe urged Sterbis to advise them of the Nov. 13 sentencing.
As Brandon sat at a defense table, Eugene Gabany, Kennedy’s maternal grandfather, called for the most punishment Lowe can impose. Nov. 16 — three days after the scheduled sentencing — would have been Kennedy’s 19th birthday.
“In our family’s eyes (the punishment) could not be harsh enough,” Eugene Gabany said. “We’ll never see her 19th birthday or her wedding.”
Defense attorney Constance Ross argued for a two-year probation sentence among other court orders, saying Brandon has shown remorse for the teens’ deaths. Ross said Brandon attends Eastern Michigan University and doesn’t drink alcohol or use drugs.
“He is on the right path,” she said. “I’d like to make sure he doesn’t crawl into a hole over the trauma of that evening.”
Sterbis told Lowe that Kennedy’s family wants a punishment Brandon can feel. “Does probation give him something he can feel? Probably not.”
Diane Gibbons, Kennedy’s aunt, described her life after the double fatality. She and husband Glenn Gibbons of Romulus went to the accident scene until Kennedy was pulled from the car.
“I haven’t slept since this happened,” Diane Gibbons told Lowe. “I cry every day.”
Glenn Gibbons said Kennedy’s family isn’t being unfair by seeking jail time. He said his wife hasn’t been the same since losing her niece.
“I want her back, and I don’t know when I’ll get her back,” he told Lowe.
Kennedy’s paternal grandmother, Donna “Nana” Kennedy, told Lowe she doesn’t believe Brandon should ever be allowed to drive again, though Lowe said he can’t impose such a sentence. Lowe, who has two teenage sons, called it the first time he has faced sentencing a defendant who caused a death. Most cases involving death are decided in Wayne County Circuit Court.
Lowe advised Brandon and his attorney to develop a plan for how the situation could be used to help society while still showing that Brandon is hurt by the tragedy.
“I’m not ruling jail out,” Lowe said, adding later, “I’m looking for the community to benefit from this.”
Kennedy’s family expressed relief that Lowe, rather than granting probation Monday, has put sentencing on hold until Nov. 13.
“It’s not going to be a cakewalk anymore,” Glenn Gibbons said.
