Melinda A. Mitchell changed her plea on Monday related to a car crash

Melinda A. Mitchell changed her plea on Monday related to a car crash that killed a three-year-old boy in 2019. But Mitchell did not plead guilty to the charges as noted in court documents. “The pleas will be no contest,” said Burlington defense attorney Dan McGuire at the hearing. The state did not object to the plea change. Mitchell, 31, then entered her no-contest pleas, and Judge Justin Jiron ordered a pre-sentencing investigation and a contested sentencing hearing at a future date. Mitchell is accused of crashing head-on into an oncoming car on Memorial Drive (Route 5) near the St. Johnsbury-Lyndon town line, which ended the life of three-year-old Dean Spicer. The crash also seriously injured the boy’s mother, Sandra Leach, who needed to be extricated from her car by responding firefighters. The plea agreement calls for a cap on Mitchell’s sentence of 5-10 years to serve in prison. But Attorney Maguire will be allowed to argue for a lesser prison sentence. Before reaching an agreement with prosecutors, Mitchell had been facing a possible sentence of up to 32 years in prison and $33,000 in fines.