More jury selection, then trial likely Wednesday in hit-and-run wreck that killed five

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By Ty Tagami

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The trial for a south Fulton County woman accused of killing five people in a hit-and-run wreck on Easter 2009 is expected to begin Wednesday.

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HYOSUB SHIN / hshin@ajc.com Sheila Michael waits in the lobby of the Fulton County jail after bonding out. Thursday, May 7, 2009

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Judge Kimberly Esmond Adams and lawyers for both sides were still questioning prospective jurors late Tuesday, and the selection process was expected to spill over into Wednesday, said Don Plummer, a spokesman for Fulton County Superior Court.

Aimee Michael, 24, is to stand trial for her alleged role in the chain-reaction crash that killed five people and injured another on Camp Creek Parkway near Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. She is charged with five counts of vehicular homicide, one count of serious injury by vehicle and six counts of hit and run, plus counts of tampering with evidence, reckless driving and failure to maintain a lane.

Her mother, former Atlanta elementary school teacher Sheila Michael, pleaded guilty Monday to counts of tampering with evidence and hindering the apprehension of a criminal. Police alleged that she helped to repair her daughter's damaged BMW. She was arrested after her plea and taken to the Fulton County Jail, where she remained Tuesday. She is to be sentenced at the conclusion of her daughter's trial, prosecutors said.

On the afternoon of April 12, 2009, Aimee Michael's car collided with a Mercedes and both vehicles crossed the median, police said. Michael regained control but the Mercedes didn't and crashed head-on into a Volkswagen, police said.

Killed in the Mercedes were Robert and Delisia Carter, their newborn son, Ethan Blake, and Delisia Carter's 9-year-old daughter, Kayla. In the Volkswagen, Morgan Johnson, 6, was killed. Her mother, Tracy, 43, survived.

Police say Michael fled the scene in her champagne-colored BMW. She was arrested April 23 after a neighbor reported seeing the BMW outside the family's home in the Walden Park subdivision of south Fulton.

The daughter and mother were released on $150,000 and $50,000 bond, respectively, and Aimee Michael has remained on 24-hour home confinement since her release from the Fulton County Jail.