Brown pleads to causing death

A Portland man has admitted to drunk driving resulting in the death of a 18-year-old Bryant resident.

Michael L. Brown, 28, 618 N. Pleasant St., pleaded guilty Wednesday in Jay Superior Court to causing death while operating a vehicle with a blood alcohol content equivalent to 0.08% or more, a Level 4 felony. 

The crime from June 4 resulted in the death of Devon Drumm, who graduated from Jay County High School hours prior to the accident.

Per the plea agreement, Brown could have up to a 12-year sentence, with up to eight years served in prison and four years on probation. (The sentence length will be determined by Judge Gail Dues. In Indiana, a Level 4 felony has a two-year to 12-year sentence, with an advisory sentence of six years.) The plea deal also dismissed a Level 3 felony charge for leaving the scene of an accident and a Level 5 felony charge for driving with a suspended license.

His sentencing hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. April 3.

Jay County prosecutor Wes Schemenaur noted Brown, if found guilty by trial, could have been sentenced up to 16 years in prison for the crime. He talked about weighing the four-year sentence difference against taking the case to trial, which wouldn’t have guaranteed a conviction.

“I talked to the family about it, I’m always a little more deferential (to the family’s wishes) in situations involving someone’s death,” he said. “I had a long conversation with Devon’s mother and grandmother, and they were in agreement with the offer.”

“Why not take the sure thing and let the family get some closure and peace and move on,” he added.

According to a probable cause affidavit filed in connection with the case, Brown told police he was driving a 2012 Kia Forte when a car passed him on county road 700 South near State Line Road. Dust from the stone road impaired his vision, he said in the affidavit, causing him to drive off the road and hit a tree on the passenger side. He was ejected from the car.

Brown told police when he woke up he ran to the car to check on Drumm and started slapping him in an attempt to wake him, the affidavit says.

Drumm suffered a fatal head injury from the accident and was later pronounced dead at the scene.

Brown told police he suffers from bipolar disorder and admitted to panicking and running away from the wreck. He called a family member, who picked him up from a county road and took him into Portland. He was treated at IU Health Jay and later transferred to IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital in Muncie for his injuries, which included a head wound.

Hiram Roberts — he lives near the location of the accident — discovered Drumm in the vehicle alone and called police about 5:44 p.m. June 4. Drumm was trapped in the car with his seatbelt secured, according to a Jay County Sheriff’s Office accident report.

Brown repeatedly asked the case investigator who spoke with him at the hospital less than three hours later about Drumm’s condition.

“I don’t care about myself, I just want Devon to be OK,” he told the investigator.

“I don’t do meth or drugs anymore,” he later said in the report. “I have been being good, I just drank four or five beers and that’s it.”

Alcoholic containers were located at the scene of the accident, and Brown smelled of alcohol, the affidavit says. A test showed he had a blood alcohol level of 0.088%.