Onsted man sentenced in fatal crash

7/13/2001

ADRIAN - More than one year after causing a crash that killed a Florida woman, an Onsted man was sentenced to 16 months to two years in prison on charges of negligent homicide.

Judge Timothy Pickard in Lenawee County Circuit Court yesterday sentenced Michael Conley, 42, for causing the May 31, 2000, accident. Conley has undergone treatment and testing at the Forensic Center for Psychiatry in Ypsilanti and has been accused of several other driving-related offenses, most minor, within the last year.

At a June 13 court hearing, Conley said he remembered hitting the rear of the vehicle but nothing else from the accident.

Judith Wells, 59, was pronounced dead at the scene of the three-vehicle accident on M-50, just west of M-52 in Franklin Township. Conley was eastbound when he struck the rear of a minivan driven by Kimberly Osborn, 37, of Britton, forcing the vehicle left of center and into the path of Mrs. Wells' oncoming pickup truck.

Police said Conley continued but was arrested about a mile from the crash after a brief struggle with Tecumseh and Clinton officers.

Mrs. Wells' husband, John Wells, 60, was hurt in the crash, as were Mrs. Osborn and her three children.