A South Lyon woman who tried to escape police custody by way of the Brighton Mill Pond has had her appeal denied.

34-year-old Lisa Finlayson was sentenced last year in Livingston County Circuit Court to two years and 10 months to eight years in prison for her conviction on one count of escape while awaiting trial for a felony. On Tuesday, the Michigan Court of Appeals rejected her attempt at a new trial, saying there was no error sufficient to overturn her conviction. Finlayson contended that because she was quickly brought back into custody, she was only guilty of attempted escape, an argument the appeals court rejected.

The charge stemmed from an August 2016 incident when she and another inmate ran off as they were being escorted from the 53rd District Court in Brighton into a patrol car. Finlayson jumped into the Brighton Mill Pond, but was pulled out shortly after with a dredging device. The other inmate was arrested after breaking into a home to steal a change of clothes. Finlayson had been in custody for operating while intoxicated causing death as a result of her role in a 2015 crash that killed a motorcyclist from Howell. Finlayson’s 3-year-old son was a passenger in the vehicle at the time and testing later revealed cocaine in Finlayson’s system.

She was sentenced to serve 86 months to 15 years for her guilty plea in that case. Her sentence for the escape attempt is running consecutive to that. (JK)