ORCHARD LAKE, Mich. – An Oakland County teenager who killed a bicyclist last summer was sentenced Wednesday and the victim’s family is angry because of the light sentence.
Judge James Alexander lashed out at the driver, Savannah Iams, 19, of Highland Township, who was behind the wheel on a cocktail of prescription drugs. She plead no contest to a reduced misdemeanor moving violation causing death charge.
“You don’t get it,” Alexander said. “You destroyed a life, you destroyed a family and you destroyed another life, yours. You don’t care. You just don’t care.”
Alexander was frustrated because under the law, he could only sentence Iams to six months in jail and two years of probation.
“You just think this is a little inconvenience,” Alexander said. “I don’t think you have any understanding of what you did. You took a life, you took a life and I don’t think you care.”
Bobby Horvath, 50, died after getting slammed high into the air from behind riding his bicycle.
“I don’t think we’ll ever be over the fact that she just gets a slap on the wrist and she will get to go home in six months,” Bobby Horvath’s sister Janet Horvath said.
A memorial stands on the side of Commerce Road. Horvath’s girlfriend put it there after he was killed last Memorial Day weekend. He was a beloved figure around Keego Harbor.
“In this country, you can get five to ten years for mail fraud,” Bobby Horvath’s sister Peggy Gantz said. “Taking somebody’s life, the only opportunity the judge has under the law is a year in jail. I don’t think that’s proper. I don’t think it's fair."