FLINT, Mich. (Court TV) — A Michigan woman avoided prison after pleading guilty to her involvement in the death of her new husband’s best man on their wedding night.
Savanah Collier appears at her sentencing on May 26, 2026. (Court TV)
Savanah Collier, 23, had previously pleaded guilty to a single count of accessory after the fact to a felony after her new husband hit and killed his best man with a car. Collier was tearful at Tuesday’s sentencing hearing as she addressed the court. “Never in a million years would I have expected what happened to happen,” she said. “I didn’t just lose [the victim] that day. I lost everything that night. I lost my home, my house got broken into, they stole my car. I lost my husband, I lost my family.”
Collier had married her groom, James Shirah, on Aug. 30, 2024. After the ceremony, the party continued. At some point during the festivities, Shirah began to fight with his best man, Terry Taylor Jr., 29. Investigators say surveillance video showed Shirah appearing to walk away from the fight before returning behind the wheel of a vehicle and deliberately hitting and killing his friend. “It was supposed to be the best night of my life,” Collier told Judge Khary Hannibal.
Prosecutors conceded that Collier was not guilty of killing the victim, but said she failed to act after seeing what happened. “She saw her husband run him over at a high rate of speed, died on the street, got in the car, had a phone and didn’t call 911 or do anything else,” Prosecutor Mark Ross said on Tuesday. “She did nothing to help.”
Collier appeared to want to interrupt Ross as he said that, arguing that she had no access to a phone. Peter Philpott, Collier’s attorney, conceded that she never called 911 but said that she deserved credit for turning herself in to the police within 24 hours.
Compounding the tragedy, Philpott said, Collier’s father suffered a fatal heart attack after seeing the charges his daughter was facing. “Savanah suffered three significant losses,” Philpott said. “The loss of a friend, the loss of a husband, and the loss of a father. That’s a lot for a 21-year-old to handle.”
James Shirah appears in court for his sentencing on May 11, 2026. (Court TV)
Since the incident, Collier — who told the judge she uses the last name Shirah — has maintained a job and established a home by herself without assistance, her attorney said. “This is not the way you want your wedding day to end up, and it’s really unfortunate, but I can’t emphasize enough how proud I am of Savanah.”
“I can understand the actions you took,” Hannibal told Collier. “They were still in violation of the law.”
Hannibal sentenced Collier to 24 months of probation; under the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act, she will be able to have the charges dismissed completely at the end of probation if there are no incidents.
“Ms. Shirah, I cannot imagine a worse outcome on one of those milestone moments in life,” Hannibal said as he handed down the sentence. “The actions of Mr. Shirah were not your fault; however, they’ve become your problem.”
Shirah was sentenced to 30 years to life after pleading no contest to second-degree homicide, operating a vehicle without a valid license and leaving the scene of a crash.
