Jeffrey Stalhood, 45, was sentenced on Jan. 23 to 15 years in prison for a drunk driving accident that killed two men.
On Aug. 22 of last year, Stalhood left a bar in Pittsford, Mich., with two men in the car: 21-year-old Calvin Russel and 43-year-old Chris Root. Stalhood was driving 113 mph westbound on Bacon Street when he lost control of the vehicle. The 1999 Mercury Cougar spun and slid 600 feet before wrapping around a large tree.
The police report indicated that the damage to the vehicle was extensive and that debris was scattered across a wide area.
Russel and Root died on the scene, but Stalhood was flown by helicopter to University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor. Stalhood tested for a .09 blood alcohol content — .01 above the legal limit.
According to the affidavit for a search warrant, Stalhood admitted to the Flight for Life crew that he shouldn’t have been driving after being asked how much he’d had to drink.
Stalhood, who had a history of drunk driving, pled no contest to one count of operating under the influence causing death, two counts of reckless driving causing death, and one count of driving while license suspended causing death. He will serve out his time at the Michigan Department of Corrections.
“It was a just sentence,” Prosecutor Neal Brady said.
charper@hillsdale.edu