GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A woman who was sentenced to decades in prison for a 2022 crash that killed two cyclists and injured three others who were taking part in a Make-A-Wish bicycle ride will head back to court to have her sentences reviewed and possibly shortened.
The deadly crash happened four years ago on Stage Road in Ronald Township, northeast of Ionia, as Mandy Marie Benn was driving north. She tried to pass a truck, driving into the path of bicyclists participating in a Make-A-Wish bicycle tour. Two cyclists were killed: Edward Erickson, 48, of Ann Arbor, and Michael Salhaney, 57, of Bloomfield Hills. Three others were hurt. The prosecution said evidence showed that Benn had a prescription medication called Lorazepam, a sedative that had not been prescribed to her, in her system at the time of the crash.
Driver sentenced to decades in prison for crash that killed 2 cyclists
The next year, Mandy Marie Benn was sentenced to two consecutive 35- to 60-year terms in prison after a jury found her guilty on 15 counts, including two counts of second-degree murder, three counts of possessing prescription drugs, two counts of operating while intoxicated causing serious death and two counts of reckless driving causing death.
She appealed, claiming some evidence shouldn’t have been included in her trial and that the 35- to 60-year sentences should have been imposed concurrently instead of consecutively…