KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Latest on the sentencing of Charles Pickett Jr. in a crash that five bicyclists in Michigan in 2016 (all times local):
10:50 a.m.
A Michigan man who was under the influence of drugs when he plowed into bicyclists, killing five, has been sentenced to at least 40 years in prison.
Charles Pickett Jr. apologized Monday and said he would give his own life for the people who were killed and injured. But a judge called his plea "woefully inadequate."
Pickett last month was convicted of second-degree murder. In 2016, he slammed into a pack of bicyclists on a rural road in Kalamazoo County's Cooper Township, about 140 miles (210 kilometers) west of Detroit.
There's no dispute that he had swallowed painkillers and other drugs before driving his pickup truck. But his lawyers argued that murder charges were excessive.
The 52-year-old Pickett will be eligible for parole after decades in prison.
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8:35 a.m.
A Michigan man is scheduled to be sentenced in the deaths of five bicyclists whom he struck with his pickup truck after ingesting painkillers and other drugs.
Charles Pickett Jr., of Battle Creek, faces up to life in prison at his sentencing hearing Monday in Kalamazoo County Circuit Court. He was convicted last month of five counts of second-degree murder.
The 52-year-old Pickett slammed into a pack of nine cyclists from behind on June 7, 2016, on a rural two-lane road in Cooper Township, about 140 miles (210 kilometers) west of Detroit.
Prosecutors have said Pickett was speeding and didn't apply his brakes until after he struck the first victim. Three women and two men were killed.
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