KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan man is scheduled to be sentenced in the deaths of five bicyclists whom he struck with his pickup truck after ingesting painkillers and other drugs.
FILE – In this May 1, 2018, file photo, Charles Pickett Jr., of battle Creek, Mich., enters a courtroom in Kalamazoo moments before 14 counts of “guilty” are read as the verdict in his murder trial for the deaths of five bicyclists and severe injuries to four others stemming from the June 7, 2016 crash on a rural road in Cooper Township, Mich. Pickett is scheduled to be sentenced Monday, June 11, 2018. (Rebekah Welch/Kalamazoo Gazette-MLive Media Group via AP, File)
Charles Pickett Jr., of Battle Creek, faces up to life in prison at his sentencing hearing Monday in Kalamazoo County Circuit Court. He was convicted last month of five counts of second-degree murder.
The 52-year-old Pickett slammed into a pack of nine cyclists from behind on June 7, 2016, on a rural two-lane road in Cooper Township, about 140 miles (210 kilometers) west of Detroit.
Prosecutors have said Pickett was speeding and didn’t apply his brakes until after he struck the first victim. Three women and two men were killed.
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