Inset (left): Emma Daniels (Weber-Hill & Packard Funeral Home). Inset (right): Mee-Mingwa Phillips (Ryan Funeral Home). Background: News footage of Laney Peters in court for her sentencing hearing (WGBA).
A Wisconsin woman who was drunk behind the wheel when she crashed her car and killed two of her friends will spend more than a decade in prison.
Laney Peters, 21, 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 in June, charges that came in connection with a fatal car crash she caused on June 24, 2024. Peters, who was 19 years old at the time, was driving with her friends — 19-year-old Mee-Mingwa Phillips and 18-year-old Emma Daniels — her 16-year-old sister, and a dog.
According to a criminal complaint obtained by local Fox affiliate WLUK, Peters admitted to drinking before getting behind the wheel.
When police arrived at the scene of the crash at 5:51 a.m. on June 24, 2024, they found the car "perpendicular to the roadway" and smashed into a tree on the side of State Highway 172 in Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin. Parts of the car were found in several different locations, including the parking lot of a Best Buy store.
In the road, police saw "two very large divots" that indicated that the vehicle "was probably airborne and landed at least twice before striking a tree and coming to rest propped up against another tree." Police noted in the complaint that the car was likely moving at a "very high rate of speed."
Phillips and Daniels were pronounced dead at the scene, and Peters' teenage sister was seriously injured. The dog that was inside the car also died.
When police spoke to Peters, she admitted to about three or four drinks before getting in the car, but claimed that "she was not even 'buzzed'" by the time she and her passengers got on the road. Police tested Peters' blood six hours after the crash and determined that she had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.064. According to the complaint, police believe that at the time of the crash, her BAC exceeded the legal driving limit of 0.08.
During the sentencing hearing, Peters expressed her remorse and said, "I will carry this tragedy on my shoulders every day."
The family members of the victims were far less forgiving. Daniels' grandmother, Emmy Mayo, told Peters, "Everyone was screaming at you to slow down," adding, "God says to forgive, but there are things in this world that just can't be forgiven, and you are one of them."
Daniels' mother, Brooke Big John-Ramos, told Peters, "The horrible decisions you made that night robbed her of everything she was — a daughter, a granddaughter, a sister, a niece, a friend, and everything she would have been."
Phillips' grandmother, Lois Franklin, told the court, "I hate to say this but I hate the girl who did this, because I heard Mee-Mingwa cry out 'Slow down!' and she didn't listen. I hope that she finds it in her heart to change her ways."
Peters was sentenced to 12 years in prison plus 12 years of supervised release. She was ordered to maintain sobriety and not to have contact with her victims' families.
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