MUSKEGON, MI - A young woman cried in Muskegon County's Circuit Court earlier this month as she was sentenced to half a year in jail for a 2015 crash that wound up proving fatal for the other party.
She couldn't have done anything different in the circumstances, her lawyer said. She had the right of way driving down Muskegon's Seaway Drive - the cyclist crossing the road did not.
But a test of her blood later revealed the presence of THC, shorthand for marijuana's active ingredient, Tetrahydrocannabinol.
The case is a reminder that anyone involved in a serious crash with even traces of marijuana in his or her system faces serious consequences.
Judge William C. Marietti said at the woman's May 2 sentencing that it didn't appear to have contributed toward her collision with the cyclist. Nevertheless, he said, the law is clear that "you cannot operate a motor vehicle under those circumstances."
Kali Su Schram, 20, was sentenced May 2, 2017 in Muskegon County's 14th Circuit Court. She'll serve six months in jail with authorized work release, and two years' probation, for operating under the influence causing death. She was also ordered to pay $6,456 restitution and $708 court costs/fees.
Schram's vehicle collided with a cyclist at 7:32 a.m. on Nov. 26, 2015 on Seaway Drive at the intersection with Sherman Boulevard. Her vehicle was determined to have the right of way, according to the Muskegon County Prosecutor's office.
The cyclist, 64-year-old Ralph Martin, died months later, March 10, 2016, from injuries caused in the crash.
"If you read the police report, she could not have done anything to avoid this particular accident," said Schram's attorney, Muskegon's James Marek.
"These types of cases are tragic for everyone involved," said Muskegon County Chief Assistant prosecutor Timothy M. Maat. "However, like a person who operates a car without a driver's license, a person who illegally has a controlled substance in their blood stream is not legally allowed to drive a car. When a death results from an accident when a defendant could not legally drive, it is then left to the Judge to decide an appropriate sentence depending on the facts and circumstances of each case."
Maat declined to give the exact amount of THC found in Schram's blood, or whether she appeared to be under the influence at the time of the crash.
"Defendant's blood was tested and indicated the presence of active agents of THC," he said. "The unlawful use of Marijuana at any level found in a person's blood while driving a motor vehicle is illegal.
"Whether a person appears to be under the influence of THC is not an element we are required to prove unless the person has a valid medical marijuana exception. The law does not set a threshold amount of illegal drugs to measure impairment like it does in drunk driving cases where the unlawful level of blood alcohol has been set at .08."
Schram's case isn't a unique one, and it's not hard to find a similar story. In August 2016, in Muskegon's Circuit Court, Donovan Charles Wilson was sentenced to six months in jail for a crash that killed his pregnant girlfriend and their unborn, third-trimester baby.
Like Schram, Wilson appeared grief-stricken at his sentencing. He wore his girlfriend's ashes in a vial around his neck at his sentencing. Wilson's lawyer, like Schram's, argued that marijuana hadn't played a role in the crash. His THC amount was low, and the couple had been driving on an unfamiliar road.
Another similarity is that in both cases the families of the victims didn't push for sentences to state prison with a minimum of a year or more - which both defendants could have faced under the sentencing guidelines that judges refer to in court.
In Schram's case, "the sentencing guidelines were calculated at a minimum range starting at 29 months," Maat said. "However, the court also considered the input of the family of the victim who was not requesting prison.
Schram had pleaded no contest to the charges on March 28, 2017. A no-contest plea is not an admission of guilt but is treated like one for purpose of sentencing.
Schram spoke at her sentencing May 2.
"The thought of it has never left my mind, and I will live with it forever," she said tearfully. "I will feel remorse forever. I'm extremely sorry."
Her attorney, Marek, said she was making plans to settle in a different city and start over.
"Every time she drives that road, it has an effect on her," he said.
Marek asked for an electronic tether instead of jail - a liberty that the assistant prosecutor at the hearing, Mary Farel, said the victim's family didn't favor.
Marietti kept the jail time in the sentence.
"Nobody wins in this case," he said. "Everybody loses."
He added that while Schram is making plans to start her life afresh in a new city after jail, there is no starting over for the victim.
"It's come to an end for him."