Two dead – Man sentenced to prison

A Saginaw man was sentenced last week for his role in a crash that killed an elderly Schoolcraft couple nearly two years ago.

Ezra Phillips is expected to spend up to 30 years in prison after the vehicle he was driving T-boned a car in which Joel Shaffer and Dolores Shaffer were occupants. Phillips, 28, was charged with operating while intoxicated causing death.

Phillips was behind the wheel of a Dodge Durango that police said was traveling at a speed of 115 miles per hour moments before slamming into the driver’s side of the Shaffer’s Chevrolet Impala.

His blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit, and police said they found a half-finished bottle of margarita wine in the SUV.

Phillips was sentenced Friday in Kalamazoo County Circuit Court.