Four teens murdered by drunken driver

MOUNT CLEMENS (AP) -- Frances Dingle came to court Tuesday for what most expected would be the start of an anguishing trial. Instead, she pleaded no contest to charges that should keep her in prison for at least two decades.

Dingle, 48, cried and spoke softly as her attorney Michael Dennis asked if she understood the charges. The Mount Clemens woman said she did before she pleaded no contest to four counts of second-degree murder and four counts of operating a vehicle while intoxicated causing death.

Her pleas, which aren't an admission of guilt but are treated as such for sentencing purposes, came on the day jury selection was to begin for trial.

Several of the victims' family members said after the hearing that they were relieved to be spared weeks of grisly details about the March 2009 crash that claimed the lives of their loved ones -- Devon Spurlock, Erica Haudek, Jordan Michalak and Stephanie Currie.

"I was hoping this was going to happen," said Spurlock's older sister, Sarah Spurlock, who held a picture of her 19-year-old brother outside the courtroom. "I really don't want to have to go to trial and relive it every day, so I'm just really happy and relieved that she took responsibility for her actions."

Dingle, who was using a walker during the hearing, faces a minimum of about 19 years in prison for each of the murder counts when she is sentenced May 19.

Dennis told the court that Dingle decided to change her plea because she had a "lack of recall" of the events of the crash.

After the hearing, the attorney said Dingle was "remorseful about the whole thing."

"My client's not a monster. She's a human being," Dennis said. "She realizes the pain and suffering and hurt she's put on these families and didn't want to put them through it."

Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith said his office and the victims' families would have preferred a guilty plea, but that "the most important thing is she took responsibility today."

He said Dingle did not deserve a plea bargain, nor would his office allow one.

Michalak's mother, June Fulton, said Dingle "did the right thing" but "I wish she would have done it right from the beginning."

Fulton said she tries to focus her energy on her family life, but that she constantly feels the pain of losing her son.

"I was a single mother, so he was my little man of the house," she said. "I miss him every morning, every night, every waking minute of my life."

Dingle's blood-alcohol level after the crash was 0.16 percent, twice the state's legal limit. A police officer who interviewed her at a hospital said she had skipped an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting that day and bought vodka and beer with a friend.

The teens, who ranged in age from 15 to 19 years old, were in a car waiting to cross the road when it was struck by Dingle's van. Assistant Prosecutor Bill Cataldo has said she turned it into a "missile."

Three of the four victims attended Lake Shore High School in St. Clair Shores.

Victoria Noriega was among several people who wore black shirts featuring the image of her great-granddaughter, Stephanie Currie. Through tears, she said Stephanie was "so sweet to me, you know, and hugged me all the time."

Sarah Spurlock said she feels sorry for Dingle, knowing that she has to wake up every day realizing what she did. Spurlock said she's not sure whether Dingle feels remorse, but she and other family members have a resolution.

"She's not going to be out to hurt anybody else," Spurlock said.