Lucido reassessing charges in girl’s death
Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido is reviewing whether to add criminal charges against a Warren woman who struck and killed her 3-year-old step-granddaughter with the vehicle she was driving.
Lucido said he is reconsidering the case against Nichole Leas, 40, in the death of Liliana “Lilly” Leas last May outside her Warren home following public protests Tuesday by the Lilly’s father and mother, Cody Leas and Joann Salas.
Although Nichole Leas is accused of having THC, the active ingredient of marijuana in her system, she was charged in October with a misdemeanor, moving violation causing death, which is punishable by up to one year in jail.
Lilly’s parents and other loved ones want a charge of driving under the inf luence of drugs causing death, a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
An assistant prosecutor told
Cody Leas and Salas that the grandparents’ “stories didn’t match up with each other” and that the burden of proof would be difficult to establish, according to the parents.
The family picketed Tuesday outside the Prosecutor’s Office in the county Administration Building in Mount Clemens in hopes Lucido would review the case after he took office Monday following his November election over former judge Mary Chrzanowski.
Lucido provided hope in a news release, saying: “Under newly established protocol, one or more additional charges are being considered.”
But Lucido also noted the challenges of bringing a felony charge in this type of case because Michigan does not have a defined level of THC in a person’s system that legally determines his or her ability to drive was influenced.
The incident occurred May 22 outside a home on Toepfer Road, where the couple took Lilly for Sean and Nichole Leas — Cody’s father and stepmother — to watch.
At one point, Sean and Nichole Leas decided to switch cars because one of the vehicles didn’t have a car seat. Nichole has said she didn’t realize the children were outside at the time and when she went to move the vehicle, Lilly darted in front of the car and was struck, according to the couple. Lilly died from her injuries.