ST. JOHNS, Mich. (Court TV) — A 36-year-old woman was sentenced Wednesday to 30 to 60 years in prison for a drunken-driving crash in May 2024 that killed two men and injured 14 members of their family, including eight children, as they walked along a rural road outside Lansing.
Ashley Marie Monroe, who was pregnant with her fifth child at the time of the incident, had a blood alcohol level of 0.195 — nearly two-and-a-half times the legal limit — and was on prescription medication when her vehicle plowed into the family group on May 18, 2024, prosecutors said. She declined to address the court before Judge Cori E. Barkman imposed the sentence, which was bound by a plea agreement that established the 30-year minimum.
Ashley Monroe appeared in court for sentencing after pleading no contest to driving into a crowd of people, killing two and injuring 16. (Court TV)
The crash killed 30-year-old Jonathan Esch, a married paramedic for Lansing Township, and his brother-in-law, 42-year-old Daniel Harris, a married father of four. Harris’s wife, Jessica, and 5-year-old son were among the 14 people injured in the crash, with half of the victims younger than 8 years old. Jessica later had a leg amputated as a result of her injuries.
During an emotional sentencing hearing Wednesday afternoon, family members delivered harrowing victim impact statements.
“You made me a 28-year-old widow,” said Erika Glatz, Esch’s widow. “In a bed that John and I once shared, I wake up alone. In a home once filled with his laughter, I come home to silence.”
Dee Esch, who lost both her son, Johnathan, and her son-in-law, Daniel, in the crash, addressed Monroe directly. “Make no mistake, what you did was murder! You are a murderer!” she said. “One day, you will walk out of prison. My sentence only ends when I meet my son in heaven.”
According to investigators, Monroe fled the scene but was apprehended within minutes. A responding sheriff’s deputy, en route to the scene, spotted Monroe’s cracked windshield as she was heading in the opposite direction and turned around to initiate a stop. A nearly empty pint of Crown Royal was in her purse; deputies also recovered two prescription pill bottles from her car, according to court testimony.
Monroe pleaded no contest to nine felonies: one count of second-degree murder and eight counts of operating while intoxicated causing serious injury. As part of the deal, other charges, including those for fleeing the scene, were dismissed.
Prosecutor Debra Martinez asked for the 60-year maximum sentence, pointing to Monroe’s “conscious choice to drive while severely intoxicated” and her decision to flee. Defense attorney Edwar Zeineh referred the court to a sentencing memorandum that he said detailed his client’s remorse.
Monroe will be eligible for parole in 2054. She was given credit for 515 days already served.
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