Area man charged in fatal accident

Ypsilanti resident was allegedly driving drunk

CANTON TWP. — A Ypsilanti man who police said has a history of drunken driving was charged following a fatal crash early June 6 that took the life of Desiree Jones, a 32-year-old mother of two from Belleville.

Maurice Griffin, 37, of Ypsilanti, was arraigned on five felonies June 8 in 36th District Court, including operating while intoxicated third offense.

Homicide/murder-second degree; which carries a potential sentence of life or any term of years in prison.

Operating with a high BAC causing death with a prior conviction; punishable by 20 years in prison.

Reckless driving causing death; punishable by 15 years in prison.

Operating with license suspended, revoked, denied causing death; punishable by 15 years in prison.

He faces one to five years in prison for the operating while intoxicated third offense charge, if convicted. Police did not release his drunken driving history.

Griffin was driving east in the westbound lanes of Michigan Avenue about 12:20 a.m. June 6 when he struck Jones’ vehicle head on, police said. At the time, Jones was heading home from her job at the Amazon facility on Haggerty Road in Plymouth Township. “These criminal charges underscore the severity of the incident that claimed the life of a young woman, leaving behind her husband and two small children,” Canton Police Chief Chad Baugh said. “This tragedy has profoundly impacted her family, altering their lives forever. Our thoughts are with the victim’s family during this very difficult time.”

Judge Laura Echartea set Griffin’s bond at $1 million cash. Griffin is scheduled in 35th District Court on June 21 for a probable cause conference, with a preliminary exam scheduled for June 28.

A fundraiser set up by Jones’ family has raised nearly $4,000 of its $50,000 goal as of Monday.

On the GofundMe page set up by Jones’ husband, Brian Jones II, he said his wife died at the scene “while the driver has no life-threatening injuries.”

Brian Jones said he and his wife had been married for five years.

“Me and my wife had big plans and expectations to meet for our girls’ future. My daughters deserve the world and a great future just like they deserve to have they mother still here but they were robbed of that opportunity,” he wrote on the Gofundme page.

The fundraiser, he said, will help ensure his daughters have what they need as the family faces a difficult road ahead.