Hearing Postponed Again in Fatal Drunk Driving Case

MOUNT CLEMENS – Already postponed once, the preliminary examination for a 20-year-old Royal Oak woman charged in a January drunken driving fatality in Sterling Heights has been rescheduled a second time.

The pretrial examination for Kelley Marie Nagle was set for Thursday before Macomb County Circuit Court Judge Matthew Switalski and is now rescheduled for July 12.

“There are some things we’re working on,” said D. Todd Williams, attorney for Nagle, who is charged in the death of Annette Eileen Evans, 53, of Richmond.

Nagle was charged with driving under the influence, a 15-year felony, and operating while impaired, a one-year misdemeanor. She was on probation in relation to a 2009 drunken driving incident.

Nagle was driving a Chevrolet Trailblazer southbound on Dequindre Road, south of 19 Mile Road, in Sterling Heights shortly after midnight Jan. 16 when she attempted to pass a red Mazda sedan in front of her and ended up driving head-on into oncoming traffic, said Sterling Heights Police Lt. Dale Dwojakowski. Nagle's vehicle struck a Ford Ranger driven by Evans, police said.

Dwojakowski said the incident was a “severe, severe collision,” leaving the victim pinned in her vehicle. Evans was transported to Beaumont Hospital, Troy, where she was pronounced dead. No one else involved in the accident was injured.

Tests indicated Nagle’s blood alcohol level was 0.23, the Macomb County Prosecutor’s office said – nearly three times the legal limit of 0.08.

Nagle pled not guilty during her Jan. 18 arraignment and has been free on $100,000 bond while ordered to wear a GPS device and alcohol monitoring system.

Nagle’s pre-trial exam set for May 12 was rescheduled for Thursday to give her defense team more time to evaluate evidence.

Williams, who said Nagle is employed and attending school, had called the crash a “terrible tragedy.”

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