An outpouring of emotion followed the sentencing hearing for a man who pleaded guilty to driving drunk and causing a crash that killed a Reitz High School student and injured two other teens in 2015. Judge David Kiely sentenced Michael Gann to a total of 14-and-a-half years in prison, which will be served consecutively, for the crash on University Parkway that killed Logan Brown and severely injured Hannah Wilson and Kurt Osborne in March 2015.

According to the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office, Michael Gann, 38, had a blood alcohol content of more than four times the legal limit when he went the wrong way on University Parkway before slamming into the teens’ car. Logan Brown was pronounced dead at the scene. Two of his friends, Kurt Osborne and Hannah Miller, both 16 at the time of the crash, were seriously injured.
Surveillance video also showed Gann plowing into the back of another vehicle at a gas station prior to the fatal crash.

It was standing-room-only inside Circuit Court hearing that eclipsed four hours in length Monday morning. Many friends and family members of the victims stood near the gallery, creating what looked like a human wall. Many of them were clad in orange.

After the sentence was read, many friends and family members supporting both the victims and Gann, clutched one another and began to weep. One of Logan Brown’s supporters began to sing ‘Na Na Hey Hey Hey Goodbye’ by the 1970s musical group Steam in the direction of Michael Gann, despite being admonished by the judge not to do so.
After the hearing, Charles Brown, Logan’s father, described the moment as the arrival of closure.

“It has been 17 months of pure agony. You don’t have closure. You don’t know what to feel. You don’t have that sense of relief,” Brown said. “It’s just a guessing game. There’s no real winners in this situation. [The Gann] family is hurt. They’ve lost. We have a loss. Everybody in the community has a loss. I think the big thing about today is bringing closure to it.”

Hannah Miller, one of the surviving victims of the crash, is still recovering from her injuries — both physical and emotional. She and Brown provided emotionally charged testimony at the hearing. Both implored the judge to give Gann a sentence of 17 years, the maximum penalty allowed by state law.

“I think the fact that you had three great kids [made the case unique],” said deputy prosecutor Malcolm Gwinn. “I cannot recall a situation in which he had that many victims in an incident [like this]. I think it’s going to be important for the families of the victims to have support. For many of us, the case is now over but for them, it’s going to last a lifetime and they’re going to need that support and I hope it continues for them.”

While the case may be closed and some resemblance of closure was provided, there would be no celebrating, Brown said.

“I don’t. think there is any point in time that anybody will be smiling or say they will be happy with the outcome of what’s happened,” Brown said., “We’re just glad to have closure and there is some sort of [justice] for the loss of Logan and the damage caused to Kurt and Hannah.”

Gann’s defense team adamantly tried to prove to the court that Gann was truly remorseful for his actions, calling upon a social worker who had counseled Gann multiple times before trial. Gann’s defense attorney, Shaunda Lynch, also told the court of her own personal experiences as a victim of a drunk driving-related crash.

For example, Lynch told the judge that her mother was killed by a drunk driver when she was a child. Also, Lynch was hit by a drunk driver before a final exam during law school. Lynch said Gann was one of the most remorseful and cooperative defendant she’s ever represented, saying he would oftentimes inquire into the recoveries of Wilson and Osborne.

In the time since Logan Brown’s death, his father and others created Logan’s Promise, a non-profit organization whose mission is to raise awareness of the perils of drunk driving. The organization will continue to operate, Brown said.

“It’s not going anywhere. We didn’t create that because we needed a defense for Logan,” Brown said. “The case was cut and dry. The accident happened. Mr. Gann killed my son. Logan’s Promise is here to keep people from making the same mistake.”