Overview
- The crash occurred Wednesday, July 1, when prosecutors say Charles Dean Pace’s Ford F-250 struck a disabled Chrysler on the southbound shoulder of I-75 near East Holly Road, killing Zakeria Sharon Dodson, 23; Tieree Powell, 24; and their children Nalani, 3, and Karter, 2.
- Oakland County charged Pace, 27, on July 6 with four counts of second-degree murder and four counts of operating while intoxicated causing death; he was arraigned July 7 in 52-2 District Court, denied bond and remanded to jail.
- Michigan State Police report investigators found alleged speeds exceeding 90 mph, lane weaving before the strike, and a blood-alcohol level more than three times the legal limit, which prosecutors say supports the rare murder charges.
- Defense attorneys and court filings say Pace has a prior alcohol-related driving conviction and completed substance-abuse treatment, and they noted he was in Michigan on work travel at the time of the crash; prosecutors contend those facts do not undercut the case.
- If convicted, second-degree murder carries a sentence up to life in prison while operating while intoxicated causing death carries up to 15 years, and the case will move next through a probable cause conference on July 14 and a preliminary exam on July 21.