**PURE MICHIGAN? *** This is not about vengeance. This is about keeping a repeat offender from hurting someone else. An 8-time felon hit my brother’s truck on Clio Road at 88 to 92 miles an hour in a 35 mile an hour zone. He was video-chatting a 14-year-old. He had drugs in his system. After the crash he told her not to call 911. My brother choked to death on his own blood while holding his wife’s hand and telling her everything would be okay. She will never walk again. She will never be able to care for herself. The original prosecutor bound him over on second-degree murder. A different prosecutor took the case and offered a plea to reckless driving causing death. According to my brother’s stepson, the family was told the decision on a plea was not theirs. I’ve been told the same thing directly — Michigan law gives victims the right to be consulted, not the right to control a plea. The sentence was 7 to 30 years. He could be out in April 2029. Weeks earlier he had been pulled over for no license and bad plates while already on parole. The system left him with his keys. The police also destroyed the vehicles months before he was finally arrested. The family was treated as an inconvenience. The arraignment was delayed for a year. When we tried to watch on video after taking time off work, the feed was never turned on. After the hearing was rescheduled because of the court’s own technical problems, the judge signed off by telling the defendant “Good luck.” My brother’s stepson told me a victims advocate described me as “difficult” after I spoke up about how the family was being treated. Michigan’s Crime Victim’s Rights Act requires notice to siblings of a deceased victim. We had to fight for basic information. At sentencing he said he was sorry. He said he would take my brother’s place. A man who is truly sorry does not spend years trying to undo the plea. The Court of Appeals rejected the application for lack of merit. The deadline to ask the Michigan Supreme Court ends this week. He has an end date. Our family does not. My brother’s grandson was six when this happened. He told the family he wanted the driver to kill him too so he could be with his grandpa. The system failed my brother, his wife, our family, and the people of Michigan. Is this the kind of justice system of Pure Michigan people expect?