Houghton County driver pleads no contest in the US-41 crash that killed two South Carolina motorcyclists; sentencing is Nov. 30

HOUGHTON — A Houghton County woman charged in an August crash on US-41 that killed two motorcyclists from South Carolina has pleaded no contest to all three charges against her, the Keweenaw Report and the Daily Mining Gazette reported.

Sze Wenn Tiang, 45, entered the plea on Friday, Oct. 23, in 97th District Court. She had first pleaded not guilty to two counts of moving violation causing death and one count of operating a vehicle without a valid license. All three are misdemeanor traffic charges. Her sentencing is set for Nov. 30, the Keweenaw Report said.

A no contest plea is not an admission of guilt, but it is treated as a conviction for sentencing. Prosecutor Dan Helmer said the plea cannot be used against her in a civil lawsuit.

The crash happened Aug. 5 in Osceola Township. Tiang tried to avoid a vehicle that was stopped on the highway, waiting to turn left onto Golf Course Road, according to the Keweenaw Report. She went into the northbound lane and struck the motorcyclists. Kimberly Wooldridge, 36, and Raymond Alton Miller, 65, were pronounced dead at the scene.

Tiang appeared by Zoom with her attorney, Sarah Henderson, who told the court her client wanted to plead as charged, the Mining Gazette reported. Assistant Prosecutor Ashley Ball gave Judge Nicholas Daavettila the Michigan State Police crash report as the basis for the plea, said the prosecution would defer to the victims at sentencing, and asked for at least 30 days to meet with the families. Ball said the office will also give the judge Tiang’s own dash camera video.

“I think that would be wise that this court had all the information to facts and circumstances of the tragedy,” Daavettila said. “Then the court would be in a position to render its judgement with a full picture.”

The two outlets described the penalties differently. The Mining Gazette quoted the judge as saying the moving violation charges carry up to two years. Helmer told the Keweenaw Report each count carries up to one year in jail and the license charge up to 90 days, and that Tiang does not qualify for consecutive sentences, which would stack the terms. “Only certain crimes, mostly felonies, are eligible for consecutive sentencing,” he said. Under that reading, any jail terms would run at the same time.

Daavettila also told the defense that the sentence will affect Tiang’s ability to drive in Michigan and that a conviction could put her immigration status in jeopardy. She has been free on a $1,000 bond since August.

Sources:
The Keweenaw Report, Thomas Fournier, “Tiang pleads ‘No Contest’ in the August fatal vehicle – motorcycle crash case,” Oct. 30, 2026 (plea, charges, crash details, Helmer statements, penalties, bond, sentencing date), https://keweenawreport.com/2026/10/30/tiang-pleads-no-contest-in-the-august-fatal-vehicle-motorcycle-crash-case/
The Daily Mining Gazette, “Tiang pleads no contest,” Oct. 2026 (Osceola Township, attorney, assistant prosecutor, dash camera, judge’s quote and penalty description, immigration and license warnings), https://www.mininggazette.com/news/2026/10/tiang-pleads-no-contest/
Photo: Chris857, “Houghton County Courthouse 2,” Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped and color-adjusted, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Houghton_County_Courthouse_2.jpg

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Tags: Houghton · Houghton County · US-41 · Traffic safety · 97th District Court · Courts