Mancelona man's appeal in pedestrian death denied

Apr. 27—BELLAIRE — A three-judge panel this month denied the appeal of a Mancelona man who argued his 16-to-33-year prison sentence for operating under the influence and causing the death of a pedestrian was unreasonable.

Adam Carl Calo in 2020 pleaded no contest to OWI causing death following a law enforcement investigation into a hit-and-run crash in Mancelona Township where 72-year-old Janet Sue Gothrup was killed.

In 2021, 183 pedestrians were killed in vehicle crashes in Michigan, according to state traffic data; in 2022, the most recent year that statistics are available, that number fell to 173, though Michigan State Police data shows alcohol and/or drugs are involved in as many as 40 percent of pedestrian fatalities.

Katie Bower, director of the state's Office of Highway Safety Planning, previously said pedestrians remain Michigan's most vulnerable roadways users.

"When it comes to vehicle-pedestrian crashes, the pedestrian always loses," Bower said.

Gothrup, who was out walking with her nephew when she was struck, is among several pedestrians killed by impaired drivers on northern Michigan roadways in recent years.

Calo on Dec. 27, 2021, was sentenced to 200 to 400 months in prison by 13th Circuit Court Judge Kevin Elsenheimer — a sentence the Michigan Court of Appeals on April 18 affirmed.

Calo argued Elsenheimer failed to consider his struggles with mental health and substance use which could have distinguished him from a general violent offender convicted of a similar offense.

But Court of Appeals judges Mark J. Cavanagh, Kirsten Frank Kelly and Michelle M. Rick said this was not the trial court's role.

"(T)he trial court was not required to consider defendant's substance abuse history or mental health when imposing his sentence," the judges said in their opinion.

"Moreover, the record indicates that the trial court based its sentencing decision on the circumstances specific to defendant and the instant offense," the judges said.

Calo, 39, was traveling south on Satterly Lake Road in June 2020, court records state, when the black SUV he was driving crossed the centerline, drove onto the shoulder, then back onto the road, striking Gothrup before fleeing the scene.

On the same day, Calo was accused of driving away from an area gas station without paying, and of crossing the Alba Highway centerline and nearly striking an Antrim County Sheriff's Office vehicle, according to an incident report.

The deputy driving the vehicle made a traffic stop, multiple officers responded, they noted extensive damage to the front end of Calo's black Chevy Trailblazer, and when they interviewed Calo he initially identified himself using a relative's name.

Calo, the report states, later acknowledged he'd used heroin that day, knew he'd hit something but denied striking a pedestrian and said he believed he'd hit a mailbox and a tree.

"Calo then started to advise me that he wanted to speak with TNT and he could give them a lot of drug information, but wanted some insurance that it would help him with his current situation," a report by Dep. Mike Cochrane, states.

TNT refers to Traverse Narcotics Team, a multi-jurisdictional group of law enforcement officers, managed by the Michigan State Police and primarily working in Antrim, Benzie, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, Leelanau, Missaukee and Wexford counties to enforce drug laws.

Dep. Cochrane told Calo he was not as concerned about the drugs, but was "more concerned about what he hit with the vehicle, and wanted to know what happened to the front end of the vehicle," the report states.

Law enforcement later learned Calo and a passenger in his car had been on a days-long episode of heroine, methamphetamine and Xanax use.

At sentencing, Judge Elsenheimer referenced Calo's prior felony and misdemeanor convictions, including a 2003 conviction for operating under the influence causing serious injury.

A number of other northern Michigan residents have been killed by drunk or drugged drivers, while doing ordinary, everyday activities like collecting their mail or walking their dog.

In 2022, a Lake Leelanau woman, Evelyn "Evie" Kellogg, 43, who was walking her dog near South Lake Shore Drive in Leland Township, died after being struck by a vehicle driven by Christen Kelly Landry, also of Lake Leelanau.

The pedestrian's dog was also killed; Landry later pleaded no contest to operating under the influence causing serious injury in a deal with prosecutors and was later sentenced to a year in jail and three years' probation by 13th Circuit Court Judge Charles Hamlyn.

The first count of the original charges — operating under the influence causing death, a 15-year felony — was dropped in the plea deal, as previously reported.

The family of Evelyn Kellogg have since filed a civil suit against Landry and others, for wrongful death, court records show.

Also in 2022, Timothy Lyon, 47, pleaded no contest to operating under the influence causing death after he hit and killed Allison "Alli" Jo Baker, 23, with his car the night of Dec. 2.

Court records show Lyon was charged with one count of operating under the influence causing death, one count of failure to stop or identify after a personal injury accident, one count of lying to a police officer, and one count of violating the terms of a restricted license.

He originally pleaded not guilty.

Lyon later agreed to plead no-contest to operating under the influence causing death and was sentenced by 13th Circuit Court by Judge Charles Hamlyn to between 71 months and 15 years in prison.

Police records show Baker was crossing the road to pick up her mail when she was hit.

Toward the end of Lyon's sentencing hearing, Grand Traverse County prosecutor Noelle Moeggenberg said Lyon will not be judged for his substance abuse, but should be judged for his decision to drink and then get into his car and drive.

In March, the COA denied Lyon's application for leave to appeal, court records show.

Record-Eagle reporter Elizabeth Brewer contributed to this report.