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Royal Oak Man Sentenced Drunken Driving Crash That Killed 10-Year-Old Girl

ROYAL OAK (WWJ) – A Royal Oak man will spend up to 15 years behind bars for a drunken driving crash that killed a 10-year-old girl.

Mark Anthony Silva, Jr., 26, pleaded no contest in the case and was sentenced Wednesday by Oakland County Circuit Judge Nanci Grant to six and a half to 15 years in prison. A plea of no contest is not an admission of guilt, but it is treated as such for sentencing.

According to investigators, Silva was driving a 2010 Dodge Dakota on I-75, just north of I-696 in Royal Oak, the night of Sept. 16 when he struck a 2009 Pontiac G6 from behind.

The truck turned over on its side, eventually coming to rest on the right shoulder of the freeway, Michigan State Police said. When the Pontiac went up the embankment and struck the bridge, 10-year-old Lalonni Yharbough was ejected from the vehicle onto the freeway.

She was rushed to a local hospital but died a short time later, police said. Several other people were hospitalized with serious injuries.

Police said at the time that alcohol was believed to have been a factor in the crash. Following furtheri investigation, Silva was charged with three counts of operating while intoxicated causing serious impairment and one count of operating while intoxicated causing death.

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