GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Laney Peters was sentenced Tuesday to 12 years in prison for the drunken driving crash which killed two of her passengers.
She also placed on extended supervision for 12 years by Judge Thomas Walsh.
Peters, now 21 but 19 at the time of the crash, previously pleaded no contest to two counts of homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle and one count of injury by intoxicated use of a vehicle for the crash on State Highway 172 near Oneida Street in Ashwaubenon on June 24, 2024. Three other counts were dismissed.
Emma Daniels, 18, and Mee-Mingwaa Phillips, 19, died in the crash.
Before the sentence was issued, several family members of the victims described their loss.
Brooke Daniels, Emma’s mother, addressed Peters.
“All we have left are memories now. We’ll never get to make new ones. You will. I only pray you are grateful to the Almighty for sparing your life and saving your family the unbearable grief we have all endured and will carry with us forever,” she said.
Peters apologized but said she knows that won’t take away any of the hurt.
“I want to take full responsibility and accountability for the tragedy I caused on June 24. This has changed the way I live my life. I will be change I wish to see, and live my life the way the Creator intended me to. Today, I ask for mercy, but am accepting of the sentence I receive,” Peters said.
According to the criminal complaint, police were called to the highway for a car in the ditch at 5:51 a.m.
“The vehicle was perpendicular to the roadway as it struck a tree on the front end of the vehicle. The vehicle had a brush guard that was found to the north of this tree. The front end of the vehicle was found to the south and west of the tree. The engine block was found near the parking lot behind Best Buy. This indicated that upon striking the tree the vehicle violently spun. As I continued the vehicle’s path, I noticed two very large divots in the ground. This indicated to me that the vehicle was probably airborne and landed at least twice before striking a tree and coming to rest propped up against another tree. Due to the final resting place of the vehicle, the vehicle probably overturned front over rear end. To have this much damage over this significant distance, the vehicle must have been traveling at a very high rate of speed,” the complaint states.
Peters, who was 19 at the time of the crash, admitted she was drinking before the crash.
Laney stated she started drinking around 6:00pm and stopped drinking around 8:00pm. Laney stated she was drinking Tito’s with Lemonade. Laney stated she had around 3-4 drinks while she was at her house between 6-8pm. Laney stated that she then drove from her house to the other house and when she got to that house she was not even “buzzed” anymore,” the complaint states.
The blood draw revealed a BAC of .064.
“The form indicated that the defendant’s blood was drawn at approximately 8:45am on June 24, 2024. Complainant is aware that the commonly accepted rate at which alcohol dissipates from a person’s blood stream is approximately 0.015 g/100 mL/hour. Therefore, if the defendant’s blood alcohol level was 0.064 g/100 mL at 8:45am, it would be expected that that the blood alcohol level would have been over the legal limit of 0.08 g/100 mL at the time of the crash, approximately 6 hours earlier,” according to the complaint.
