FULTON COUNTY, Ga.,None — Aimee Michael was sentenced to 36 years in prison for causing a crash on Easter Sunday that killed five people.
The sentence was handed down on Thursday.
Prosecutors had sought 50 years prison time, while the defense has asked for 10 years.
Channel 2 Action News reporter Tom Regan was in the courtroom when she apologized in court for the first time on Thursday. With tears streaming down her face, she said she wronged three families.
"I want to say that I am wrong. I have wronged three families and for that I am sorry," said Michael.
RAW VIDEO: Aimee Michael Apologizes In Court
"The one thing I couldn't get out of my mind is that you left the scene of the crime," Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kimberly Esmond Adams told Aimee Michael. "And then you followed a course of conduct designed to cover up what happened."
A Fulton County jury found Michael, 24, guilty on all counts Monday.
Michael was charged with starting a collision that killed five people on Easter Sunday 2009 and then fleeing the scene.
Her mother, 52-year-old former school teacher Sheila Michael, was also sentenced to eight years in prison for her role in the cover-up. She pleaded guilty to two counts of tampering with evidence and hindering the apprehension of a criminal before Aimee Michael's trial began.
SLIDESHOW: Easter Sunday Crash Victims SLIDESHOW: Easter Sunday Crash Scene
Prosecutors said Michael fled the scene after she lost control of the BMW she was driving and triggered the April 2009 chain-reaction wreck. She was arrested more than a week later after neighbors called the police.
Michael's defense attorneys conceded that she fled the scene of the accident, but said she shouldn't face vehicular homicide charges because she didn't cause the wreck. They said tire tracks show Michael was sideswiped by another car before the accident.
Robert and Delisia Carter, their newborn son, Ethan, and Delisia Carter's 9-year-old daughter, Kayla, died in the chain-reaction crash on Camp Creek Parkway, a few miles west of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Also killed was 6-year-old Morgan Johnson, whose mother, 43-year-old Tracie Johnson of Atlanta, was injured.
Michael was found guilty on five counts of vehicular homicide, one count of serious bodily injury, six counts of hit-and-run and misdemeanors including reckless driving, failure to maintain lane and tampering with evidence.
Sheila Michael's attorney brought up the question that has surrounded this trial since it began two weeks ago: Would Aimee or her mother still be facing such serious charges if either had turned themselves in after the accident?
"What Sheila Michael did was driven by fear and attempt to protect her child," said Renee Rockwell. "It was the worst move she could have made. If Aimee Michael had gone back to the scene, we would be talking about six to 12 months at most."
The judge said she has asked herself the same question, but after days of prayer she couldn't find a reason to give either the mother or her daughter a more lenient sentence.
"As a mother, you are required to do the right thing," said Adams, who choked up several times during the hearing. "And when your daughter came to you at a time when she needed you most -- she needed her mother -- you failed her."
Robert Michael, meanwhile, was left to wonder what would have happened if he wasn't working overseas at the time of the crash.
"I let you down because I needed to be here. I'm sorry that this happened and I just wish we could start all over again."
He turned to his wife of 28 years and his daughter. They locked eyes for a few silent seconds. He sighed, and then turned back to the judge.
"But still, I have to remember the victims," he said. "They have lost more."
WSBTV
