Sentence handed down in Lake Leelanau fatal dogwalking crash

Elizabeth Brewer, The Record-Eagle, Traverse City, Mich.
·3 min read
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Nov. 6—GREILICKVILLE — After nearly a year of legal proceedings, Christen Kelly Landry was sentenced to a year in jail and three years of probation.

Her sentencing comes after she hit Evelyn "Evie" Ella Kellogg, 43, and her dog with her car on the night of Dec. 8, 2022, in Lake Leelanau.

Kellogg was walking her dog on the shoulder of East Lingaur Road near South Lake Shore Drive just before 7:30 p.m. when the crash occurred, state police said, and they both were killed.

Landry's sentence was handed down on Monday by 13th Circuit Court Judge Charles Hamlyn in Leelanau County.

He also said that her year in jail will go toward the three years of probation she must serve.

According to court documents, Landry's sentence began on Monday. Records show that she already has credit for two days served at the Leelanau County Jail at the time of her initial arrest.

In addition to jail time and probation, she'll pay $648 in court fees and will have a restitution hearing within 60 days of her sentencing hearing.

This hearing comes slightly more a month after Landry's no-contest plea to operating under the influence causing serious injury. The plea deal dropped the first count of the original charges — operating under the influence causing death. That felony carries a maximum 15-year state prison sentence.

Operating under the influence causing serious injury has a state maximum of five years in prison and fines of up to $5,000.

Hamlyn sentenced Landry to the low end of that spectrum on Monday.

Earlier this year, Timothy Lyon, 47, pleaded no contest to operating under the influence causing death after he hit and killed Allison "Alli" Jo Baker with his car the night of Dec. 2, six days before Landry's crash. Lyon left the scene and records show that his blood alcohol at the time of that incident was a 0.314, nearly four times the legal limit of 0.08.

Hamlyn was also the presiding judge in that case, and he sentenced Lyon to the maximum penalty of 15 years, outlined in the state statute.

A police report from Michigan State Police and blood results from MSP's forensics lab were the court's basis for accepting Landry's plea.

The blood results showed that her blood alcohol content at the time of the crash was 0.104, not 0.083, which is what the preliminary breath test on the scene originally indicated.

Leelanau County prosecuting attorney Joe Hubbell said, at the time of plea deal, that during criminal trials, the blood test is used to prove the alcohol level of the defendant — not the PBT taken on the scene.

A settlement has not been reached in the civil case against Landry, as that continues to be heard and argued in the 86th District Court.

One of Landry's defense attorneys, Michael Naughton, declined comment in the sentencing hearing on Monday.