(CBS DETROIT)The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office announced on Tuesday that the mother of a Grosse Pointe adolescent accused of second-degree murder in a deadly collision that claimed the life of another youngster will not be prosecuted.
For the Nov. 13, 2023, crash that killed this 18-year-old friend, Flynn Mackrell, Kiernan Tague, who was 16 at the time, was charged in March with second-degree murder. According to the police, Tague lost control and collided with a utility pole and tree while exceeding the speed limit of 25 mph on a residential street in Grosse Pointe Farms.
Mackrell’s mother wrote to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office in July, asking for Tague’s mother to face charges for allegedly being careless with her son’s driving. At the time, Mackrell’s parents contrasted the case to that of Ethan Crumbley, the shooter at Oxford High School, and his parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, who were held accountable for their child’s acts in a school shooting for the first time in American history.
Police revealed a fresh video in August that showed the teenager speeding at over 140 miles per hour. The horrifying footage and a thorough report that demonstrates that police responded to numerous reports regarding the teen’s alleged violence and speeding were obtained by CBS News Detroit. Tague’s mother was worried about her son’s driving, according to those police documents.
After reviewing documents and presenting evidence spanning from 2018 to 2023, prosecutors received a warrant request in August.
As the prosecutor’s office rejected the warrant request, it stated that the mother of the teen “has consistently taken reasonable measures to assert parental control over her son over the years as it relates to his general behavior and his driving leading up to the fatal car crash.”
In response to her choice, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy released the following statement:
“We have examined the relevant law and discussed this case for a considerable amount of time. We examined several papers, including police records. We are certain that the facts and supporting documentation will establish the juvenile respondent’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Even in the best of situations, parenting can be challenging. For the most part, parents try their hardest to guide and coach their children. The mother of the little kid was no exception. She tried to keep him on the correct track by taking proactive, regular actions. Some would argue that she ought to have done more, but we have examined all the evidence, and it is clear from the facts that no criminal charges are necessary in this case. Since her son is scheduled to go on trial in February, we won’t go into further detail about what she did.
“She had nothing to do with the actions for which we have prosecuted her son, either directly or indirectly. In spite of his mother’s efforts, we firmly believe that the respondent is solely accountable for the offenses for which we have charged him as an adult.
Although Tague is not being charged as an adult, he is adult-designated, which means that if found guilty, the judge may sentence him as a juvenile, an adult, or a combination of the two, with the possibility of an adult term if Tague does not show signs of rehabilitation.
Tague will go to trial on February 3 and has a settlement conference scheduled for January 8.
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