IONIA, Michigan – The lady was ordered to face trial in a second-degree murder and other counts after five cyclists were hit by her vehicle at a summer charity event in western Michigan.
Ionia County Judge Raymond Voet said in Thursday’s pre-hearing that Mandy Benn was intoxicated with a “cocktail of medicine,” despite testifying that she only had therapeutic drug levels in her system, MLive.com reported.
Voet also said that Benn, 42, acted with “dissolute and deliberate … disregard for all times.”
Ionia County Attorney Kyle Butler said on July 30, Benn attempted to pass a UPS truck on a rustic road in Ronald Township when it crossed the centerline and hit cyclists who were participating in a three-day endurance ride for Make-A – Wish Foundation.
Ronald Township is northeast of Grand Rapids.
Benn had no alcohol in her body, but she had slurred speech and will not follow the instructions, said Butler, who added that there was evidence that she used prescribed drugs.
48-year-old Edward Erickson of Ann Arbor and 57-year-old Michael Salhaney of Bloomfield Hills were killed. Three other men were injured.
WZZM-TV informed that the witness of the accident was a lady living on the road where cyclists had been hit.
“My window overlooks the road and I saw a body flying within the air,” Shoni Mayle testified.
After hitting the cyclists, Benn seemed confused and confused, Detective Sgt. Testified by Phillip Hesche.
“She looked right at me and said,” Wow officer who looks almost real, “said Hesche. “I used to be really surprised by this. It was as if she were on one other planet.
Geoffrey French, head of the state police’s toxicology unit, testified that three prescribed drugs were present in Benn’s system. Prosecutors said she had no prescription for one in all the medications.
French agreed with defense attorney Walter Downes that there are therapeutic levels of medicine in her system. “Not one of the results were super, super big,” testified the French.
But drugs can have negative effects, he said in a prosecution questioning.
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