GROSSE POINTE FARMS (WWJ) — No charges will be filed against the mother of a teen who has been charged in a deadly crash in Grosse Pointe Farms last fall.
The 17-year-old boy was charged in March with second-degree murder for the death of 18-year-old Flynn MacKrell of Grosse Pointe.
This summer the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office received a letter from the MacKrell’s family requesting the mother of the teen driver be charged, alleging “inaction and negligence on her part regarding her son’s driving behavior.”
Prosecutor Kym Worthy on Tuesday denied the warrant request for “insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that any crime has been committed by the respondent’s mother.”
The crash happened just after 9 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 17, 2023, in the area of Ridge and Moran Roads for a single-vehicle crash.
When police got to the scene, they found the juvenile respondent belted into the driver’s seat and the victim unresponsive, belted into the passenger seat, according to the prosecutor’s office. Medics pronounced MacKrell dead at the scene.
Prosecutors say the 17-year-old, whose name is not being released, was speeding in a residential area when he lost control of the car, left the road and hit a utility pole and a tree. Reports say the teen was going 105 mph at the time of the crash.
The teen was not charged as an adult, but he was adult designated, meaning if convicted, the judge will have the option of sentencing him as a juvenile, or as an adult, or to fashion a blended juvenile sentence with the option of imposing an adult sentence if he is not rehabilitated.
He currently has a settlement conference scheduled for Jan. 8 and a jury trial scheduled for Feb. 3.
After the teen was charged, on July 25, the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office received the letter from MacKrell’s mother requesting charges. Worthy then requested an investigation from the Grosse Pointe Farms Police Department into the teen’s mother in connection with the fatal crash.
On Aug. 15, a warrant request was presented to the prosecutor’s office and an extensive review of records and evidence over a period from 2018 until 2023 was conducted. Worthy’s office says this was done “to get a full picture of the relevant facts and evidence pertaining to the mother’s conduct relating to the respondent over a period of years leading up to the fatal car crash.”
“A panel of experienced assistant prosecutors reviewed this matter. Because the respondent is currently awaiting a trial, WCPO must be mindful of the fact that the respondent is guaranteed the right to a fair trial and therefore are limited in the facts that can be disclosed at this time,” Worthy’s office said in a press release.
As a result of the review, the prosecutor’s office found that the respondent’s mother “has consistently taken reasonable measures to assert parental control over her son over the years as it relates to his general behavior and his driving leading up to the fatal car crash.”
Worthy released the following statement regarding the review of the teen’s mother:
“We have spent a significant amount of time discussing this case and have looked at all of the applicable law. We looked at police reports and other documents. We are confident that the facts and evidence will prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the juvenile respondent committed the offenses that we have charged.”
“Parenting is hard in the best of circumstances. Most parents do everything they can to mentor their children and steer them in the right direction. The juvenile respondent’s mother was no different. She took consistent, active steps to try to make sure that he stayed on the right path. There will be those that say she should have done more, but we have looked at all of the facts and those facts dictate no criminal charges here. We will not be more specific about her actions because her son will be facing trial in February.”
“She was not directly or indirectly involved in any way in the offenses for which we have charged her son. Despite his mother’s attempts, it is our firm position that the respondent and the respondent only is directly responsible for the crimes that we have adult designated and charged him with.”