The Michigan Court of Appeals refused to overturn a light prison sentence for a young woman killed her father by burning him with a dangerous powder when he couldn’t take her to a hair appointment before her 18th birthday party.
Megan Imirowicz, now 21, was sentenced to one year in prison in 2023. She was immediately released because she had already spent approximately 17 months in custody before the trial and awaiting sentence.
Sentencing guidelines called for a minimum term of just over four years in prison. But Oakland County Judge Victoria Valentine gave Imirowicz a break, noting her age, lack of maturity and the likelihood of rehabilitation. Prosecutors objected.
“The court has provided ample reasons for the imposed sentence,” the appeals court said in a 3-0 opinion on Tuesday.
Imirowicz was found guilty of using harmful devices/irritants causing death. Prosecutors say she was angry at her father, Konrad Imirowicz, 64, because he was drunk and couldn’t take her to an appointment before her 2021 birthday party.
Prosecutors said Megan Imirowicz threw lye, a chemical drain cleaner, at her father while he slept, causing severe burns all over his body. He required kidney dialysis and a tracheotomy and had both his legs amputated before he died five months later.
“We recognize that the injuries the victim sustained as a result of the chemical burns, which ultimately led to his death, were serious; However, this fact alone does not establish an abuse of discretion” by the sentencing judge, the appeals court wrote.
At the sentencing, Imirowicz said prosecutors “tried to make me look like a monster, but I’m not and I never was.”
She described her father as her “best friend.” Imirowicz is on probation until July 2028.
