Four Michigan teens will be sentenced as adults for throwing a rock off an interstate overpass that ended up killing a man in 2017, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Genesee County Circuit Court Judge Joseph Farah denied a defense motion to allow the teens to be sentenced as juveniles. The teens will either go to jail, head to trial or seek a new deal for sentencing, according to WJRT. They have until August 20 to withdraw their guilty pleas to manslaughter.
Trevor Gray, Mark Sekelsky, Alexzander Miller, and Mikadyn Payne were all minors in October 2017 when they threw a rock over a highway overpass that killed 32-year-old Kenneth White on I-75 in Genesee County.
White was riding in the passenger side of a van on his way home from work when a 6-pound rock smashed through the windshield and killed him.
“The injuries are horrific. … I gasped out [when I saw them],” Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton said during the teens’ trial in 2017.
The teens were playing a game called “overpassing,” which involved throwing rocks over the overpass onto oncoming traffic. They told the judge they played the game often.
Five teens were initially charged with second-degree murder, but four of them pleaded guilty to the manslaughter charge. Kyle Anger, 19, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and will be sentenced at a later time.
Kenneth White’s mother, Teresa Simpson, told WJRT that Farah’s decision to sentence the teens as adults “is the justice her son deserves.”
“I’m very pleased with it. My prayers were answered. Kenneth’s prayers were answered,” Simpson said. “I’m ecstatic over the decision that was made today. It’s what I wanted. It’s what we all wanted for him.”
The four teens that pleaded guilty to manslaughter have already spent 21 months in jail since the October 2017 crime, and if they keep their guilty pleas, they could obtain credit for the time they have already spent in prison.
WJRT reported that the four suspects could be set free in February or March because Michigan sentencing guidelines recommend sentences of 29 months in jail.
