A 32-year-old US woman from Michigan, Stephanie Holt has been sentenced to one year in jail, to be served only on weekends, after she struck and killed a 76-year-old great-grandmother while reversing her car and then left the scene.

Holt was ordered by Macomb County Circuit Court Judge Jennifer M. Faunce to spend 365 days at Macomb County Jail on weekends, alongside two years of probation, 200 hours of community service and counselling.

Holt pleaded no contest on July 15 to a felony over the November 1, 2025, death of Mary Hulswit in St. Clair Shores.

Authorities said Holt hit Hulswit while backing out of a driveway and drove away instead of staying to call for help.

Police later found Hulswit at the end of the driveway with injuries consistent with being struck by a vehicle.

Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido said Holt should have remained at the scene after the collision.

“No one should ever leave the scene of an injury accident,” Lucido said.

Holt’s lawyer, Derek Miller, argued that his client had accepted responsibility and cooperated with investigators. He said she returned home after police asked her to do so and later confessed.

“This was a tragic accident,” Miller told The Detroit News. “Ms. Holt simply backed out of her driveway, not intending to harm anyone.”

Miller said the weekend jail arrangement would also allow Holt to look for another job during the week.

He told the court that Holt had been placed in foster care with her siblings as a child and suffers from PTSD and depression, for which she is receiving treatment.

“Anybody who has ever known Ms. Holt would tell you that she would never hurt a fly,” Miller said.

Holt initially faced the possibility of up to 15 years in prison. She was previously released on a $100,000 bond with a GPS tether and ordered to stay away from Hulswit’s family and the scene of the incident.