Aimee Michael, responsible for killing five people on a south Fulton County highway on Easter 2009, was sentenced to more than three decades in prison, but she could be released long before that.

The 24-year-old Michael was convicted by a jury earlier this month of causing the chain-reaction crash on Camp Creek Parkway that killed three children and two adults and seriously injured a sixth person.

Fulton Superior Court Judge Kimberly M. Esmond Adams sentenced her on Nov. 4 to 50 years -- 36 behind bars and the rest on probation.

Yet she could be free by her early 30s, if she finds a sympathetic parole board.

Based on a formula applied to her sentence, Michael will be eligible for parole in seven years, a state Board of Pardons and Paroles official told the AJC Monday.

"Since her aggregate sentence is over 21 years, she will be parole eligible in seven years," said the official, board spokesman Steve Hayes.

That doesn't mean she will be released then. It just means the parole board must review her case and determine whether she fits the criteria for release.

"The board is required to consider. The board is not required ever to parole," said David Humphries, guidelines director for the parole board.

Michael was convicted Nov. 1 of both causing the crash that led to the fatal collisions and of fleeing the scene and trying to cover up her role.

Killed in one car in the crash were Robert Carter, and his wife, Delisia, plus their 2-month-old son, Ethan Carter and Delisia Carter's daughter Kayla Lemons, 9.

In the other car, Morgan Johnson, 6, was killed. Her mother, Tracie, now 44, survived but suffered broken legs, a broken hip and collarbone and damage to her spleen and liver.

Michael was arrested 11 days later after a manhunt and neighborhood tipsters led police to her door -- and her parents' gold BMW, which had been repaired and was smelling of fresh paint.

Her mother, Sheila Michael, pleaded guilty in October to helping with the cover-up.

Judge Adams sentenced her to eight years in prison, with no probation.

But convicts typically are eligible for parole consideration after serving a third of their sentences. And Hayes said the mother will be eligible for parole in 32 months, which would be the summer of 2013.

In the meantime, Aimee Michael's trial lawyer said the younger Michael plans to appeal her conviction. She is now indigent though, so she'll have to use a court-appointed lawyer.

Her trial lawyer, W. Scott Smith, said the trial drained her family's finances and that they could not afford a private attorney to work the appeal.