Hit-and-run driver gets 4 1/2 years for teen's death

DETROIT (WJBK) - The man who caused a car crash that killed a 16-year-old boy last fall receives less than 5 years in prison for the boy's death.

William Worthy, 19, was driving a stolen car when he collided with the car Michael Yost and his stepfather were in last October. The accident killed Michael and Worthy fled the scene.

Worthy received 4 1/2 years in prison for causing his death, despite pleas from the teen's family.

"Just to know that the possibility for him to be coming back to the streets of Detroit in 4 1/2 years is just devastating," his step-father Marlin Franklin said.

Franklin was driving Michael to school that day when they were hit at Greenfield and Curtis. Before sentencing, he asked the judge for a harsher penalty.

"It's hard for me to articulate, and I've been thinking and trying to figure out the words to say to make you understand, that 4 1/2 years is nothing for the loss of a 16-year-old child," he said.

Yost was an athlete and Junior at Jalen Rose Academy. His mother, Holli Franklin, said she forgives Worthy.

"I forgive him because I know that was not his intention, when he got in the car, to kill my son. But he did kill my son. And when we make mistakes, we have to pay for those mistakes," Holli said.

Investigators say Worthy turned himself in but then bonded out for $1,000. Soon after that, he was caught shoplifting tiles from Home Depot in Livonia.

During the Franklin family's pleas, he was unresponsive in court.

"Nothing could ever bring my child back but I do want him to pay for what he took away from me - what I can never have or see ever again," Holli said.

The Franklins say they plan to demand changes in the justice system.