Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect a correction in the defendant’s sentence.
A year and a half after killing his friend in a 105-mph crash, a Grosse Pointe teenager with a history of excessive speeding was spared an adult prison sentence after a judge sentenced him on June 13 to a juvenile facility for the death of Flynn MacKrell, a stellar swimmer and college freshman whose still-grieving family implored the judge to lock the driver up in prison.
The Michigan Department of Corrections also recommended prison for the now-18-year-old defendant.
The judge, though, gave the teen a more lenient punishment, which sent the victim’s family reeling.
“It’s a travesty of justice,” Thaddeus MacKrell, the victim’s brother, said after the sentencing hearing, maintaining: “The judge’s mind was made up before we even went in the courtroom.”
“Flynn’s life is over, and he gets to go on,” Thaddeus continued. “It’s insulting. To make us wait to fight this hard, and to be told that everything we did, did not matter?”
Perhaps most outraged was Flynn’s mother, Anne Vanker, who spent the last 18 months fighting for justice for her son. “The only thing that could have made our lives worse is what happened here today” Vanker said.
Adult prison isn’t off the books entirely, though. Here’s how Wayne County Judge Michael McClory fashioned the sentence:
The defendant will be sent to what is known as a Level 2 juvenile placement facility, which is an out-of-home residential facility. How long he will remain there will be determined by his progress in treatment. Once he completes treatment, he will be released on probation. Then, if he violates any term of his probation, he will be sentenced to 19-38 months in adult prison.
The judge, who ordered the defendant be immediately sent to a juvenile detention facility pending official placement, announced his decision without any explanation in a packed and tense courtroom. The victim’s family and friends sat on one side, donning bright orange scarves and ties in honor of Flynn’s tousled red hair. The defendant’s supporters sat on the other side as sheriff’s deputies stood in the aisle and separated the two groups, with emotional testimony coming from both sides.
“My son Flynn (MacKrell) was my world, my life,” the victim’s mother, Anne Vanker said through tears, her voice shaking as she addressed the judge. “Flynn’s voice was stolen, now mine must speak for him. Flynn’s life mattered, and the agony of his loss deserves justice … sentence him to the maximum prison time for my son. He must be held accountable for the felony conviction of taking a life.”
Read more: ‘Slow the f— down’: Grosse Pointe mom’s texts to son may come back to haunt her
Equally important, Vanker stressed to the judge, is that a teen driver must learn that reckless driving will not be tolerated. And she doesn’t want the driver, who had a history of driving more than 100 mph on multiple occasions, to walk away thinking he got away with killing her son, she said, stressing: “If he gets to walk, that solidifies him as a criminal.”
The driver, Kiernan Tague, who was 16 when the accident happened and lived down the street from Flynn growing up, also addressed the court and publicly expressed for the first time his remorse over his actions. He started out first by acknowledging his “privilege,” saying he understood that he was fortunate to be alive. He then apologized.
“My heart is profoundly heavy with remorse,” Tague told the judge, pausing at times as his voice shook. He said that “what pains me the most” is that his feelings are “nothing compared” to what MacKrell’s family is feeling.
“I simply cannot begin to imagine what it is like to lose a sibling or a son,” Tague said in court, stressing he is “acutely” and “profoundly” aware of the pain he has caused by killing his friend.
“I’m perpetually distraught,” Tague said. “I recognize that I caused it. … I feel the pain in my heart. … I will always remember this is nothing compared to what (Flynn’s) mother, father, sister and brother carry with them every day.”
Flynn Mackrell’s family shook their heads as they listened to Tague, a graduating senior at the University of Detroit Jesuit High School.
“Your honor, If I could send a message to my 16-year-old self, I would tell him to be careful. I would tell him that life is precious. I would tell him to slow down,” Tague said, adding: “Though I’m not able to go back in time, I stand before you a different man. … I take full and complete accountability for my actions and, and I will remain sorrowful and remorseful for the rest of my life.”
MacKrell, 18, a Grosse Pointe freshman at the University of Dayton, was home for Thanksgiving break in 2023 when Tague took him on a deadly joy ride down a residential street in Grosse Pointe Farms, hitting 105 mph in a BMW before losing control, hitting a pole and then a tree. MacKrell, who was a passenger, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Read more: Grosse Pointe mom will not be charged in fatal car crash caused by her son
Tague managed to walk out of the vehicle after the crash, but was taken to a local hospital with multiple injuries. The BMW had split in half.
According to police reports, cellphone exchanges and Life360 app records obtained by the Free Press, in the weeks and months before the Nov. 17, 2023, fatal crash, Tague hit speeds of 127 mph, 143 mph, 102 mph, 150 mph and 155 mph — all on separate days — and also engaged in drag racing.
After the fatal crash, Tague initially was charged with second-degree murder, but accepted a deal with the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office that ended with him pleading guilty earlier this year to the lesser charge of vehicular manslaughter, a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
Tague, though, received an adult designation, which means the judge had the option of sentencing him as an adult or a juvenile. The judge also could fashion a blended juvenile sentence, with the option of giving him an adult sentence if Tague is not rehabilitated over time.
That’s what the judge concluded was the appropriate punishment.
Read more: Grosse Pointe family: Judge tried to go easy on driver who killed our son
Perhaps most frustrating for MacKrell’s family is that the driver’s mom knew for months that her son was driving at excessive speeds, and texted him to slow down. But, they said, she never revoked his driving privileges when he was speeding around metro Detroit in an Audi sports coupe.
“Slow the f— down!” the mother once texted her son, according to records obtained by the Free Press. “I have screen shots of you … doing 123 mph … It scares me to my bone.”
Tague’s mother, Elizabeth Puleo-Tague, did not speak at the sentencing and has repeatedly denied requests for comment.
Flynn’s family also had sought to have the mother charged in their son’s death. But Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy denied the request, concluding the driver was the only one responsible for Flynn’s death, and that his mom did her best to control her son.
“Parenting is hard in the best of circumstances,” Worthy said in announcing her decision not to charge the mother. “Most parents do everything they can to mentor their children and steer them in the right direction. The juvenile respondent’s mother was no different. She took consistent, active steps to try to make sure that he stayed on the right path.”
Contact Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@freepress.com
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: ‘It’s insulting’: Grosse Pointe teen who killed friend in 105-mph crash avoids prison, for now
Reporting by Tresa Baldas, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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