A jury has convicted the driver of a semi-tractor trailer whose vehicle crashed and killed three people on US-23 in Green Oak Township.

63-year-old Gary Bryce Erard was found guilty Wednesday by a 53rd District Court jury following a little more than one hour of deliberations. Erard had earlier withdrawn a no contest plea to three misdemeanor counts of moving violation causing death after hearing that Judge Suzanne Geddis would sentence him to six months in jail and two years of probation. But with his conviction, Erard now faces up to a year in prison when he is sentenced August 27th.

Erard was charged as a result of the April 2017 incident on southbound US-23, south of Lee Road, which involved multiple vehicles and ended in three fatalities. Green Oak Township Police say Erard failed to stop as he approached other vehicles stopped in a construction zone, striking six of them. One of the vehicles, a 1997 Ford Escort, was completely destroyed in the crash after the truck rolled over on top of it. The driver of the Escort, 51-year-old Robin Brown of Milford, was pronounced dead at the scene. His 25-year-old fiancé, Sarah Miller of Milford, later died from her injuries at the University of Michigan Hospital where she was taken after being removed from the wreckage by members of the Green Oak Township Fire Department.

52-year-old Roby Steele of Davison, who was driving a 2016 Chevy Sonic that was also hit by the semi, was also pronounced dead at the scene after being removed from his vehicle. (JK)