WARREN, Mich., April 13 (UPI) -- A Michigan woman who killed four teenagers in a deadly car crash entered a no contest plea to four counts of second-degree murder Tuesday.
Frances Dingle, 48, could receive a life sentence, The Detroit News reported. A Macomb County judge scheduled sentencing for May 19.
Stephanie Currie, 16; Erica Haudek, 15; Haudek's boyfriend, Devon Spurlock, 19, and Jordan Michalak, 16, were waiting at a traffic light near the Macomb Mall on March 16, 2009, when Dingle crashed her van into their car. The Lake Shore High School students all died, while she suffered minor injuries.
Investigators say Dingle's blood alcohol level was about twice the legal limit.
A no contest plea is the equivalent of a guilty one in a criminal case, but defendants facing civil suits, like Dingle, are spared from admitting responsibility. Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith said there was no plea agreement, but he is glad the families are spared sitting through a trial.
Smith said a guilty plea would have been unlikely because Dingle claims she was in an alcoholic blackout with little memory of the crash.
