OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. – A Pontiac woman faces decades in prison after she ran a red light, struck a motorcycle and fled the scene, leaving a motorcyclist dead and his passenger injured.
Leeann Jean Darling, 36, was sentenced on Tuesday, March 31, in Oakland County Circuit Court after pleading no contest to three felony charges stemming from the Sept. 1, 2025, crash on Woodward Avenue at Perry Street.
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Judge Mary Ellen Brennan sentenced Darling to a minimum of 200 months (a little more than 16 years) and a maximum of 40 years on each count. The sentences will run concurrently. Darling received credit for 132 days already served. Her sentence was enhanced under MCL 769.12, Michigan’s habitual offender statute for fourth-time offenders.
A restitution hearing is scheduled for May 14, 2026, at 1:30 p.m.
Darling was also ordered to have no contact with the victim’s family or the surviving victim.
What happened
Just before 10:30 p.m. on Sept. 1, 2025, a 49-year-old Fenton man was riding his 2009 Harley Davidson FLHX northwest on Woodward Avenue with a 44-year-old passenger.
Darling, driving a 2010 GMC Terrain, ran a red light on northbound Perry Street. The motorcycle hit the side of her car.
After that, Darling got out of the car and ran, according to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office.
The motorcyclist was rushed to a local hospital, where he later died. His passenger was also hospitalized but has since been released. Neither rider was wearing a helmet, the sheriff’s office said.
Investigators identified Darling as a person of interest, and she turned herself in on Oct. 1, 2025, a month after the crash.
At the time, she had an outstanding felony probation violation warrant out of Macomb County for operating while intoxicated, third offense.
She was arraigned Oct. 4, 2025, on a $750,000 cash or surety bond.
Her charges included failing to stop at the scene of an accident when at fault resulting in death, a 15-year felony; operating a motor vehicle with a suspended, denied or revoked license causing death, a 15-year felony; and operating a motor vehicle with a suspended, denied or revoked license causing serious injury, a 5-year felony.