Youngstown Daily Legal News

Vehicular homicide plea was involuntary, court rules

ANNIE YAMSON
Special to the Legal News
Published: March 28, 2014

The 12th District Court of Appeals reversed the judgment of the Madison County Court of Common Pleas recently when it ruled that a defendant’s guilty pleas to two counts of vehicular homicide were not voluntary.

The defendant, Timothy Ackley, played golf and consumed alcohol at a local golf course on April 7, 2012.

Ackley later drove his pickup truck away from the golf course and multiple witnesses saw him drive erratically, veer off the roadway and speed.

He continued to speed along State Route 142 in Madison County and, at approximately 80 miles per hour, went off the road.

Ackley’s truck veered into a ditch, hit a drainage pipe and went airborne before reentering the roadway into opposing traffic and colliding with a motorcycle carrying two people.

The two motorcycle passengers were killed in the accidnet after they were ejected and pinned under Ackley’s truck.

Several drivers stopped and attempted to assist the victims and Ackley.

They saw Ackley try to move his truck back and forth in an effort to leave the scene while the bodies were still under his vehicle.

The other motorists stopped Ackley from fleeing the scene and had to stop him from trying to drag the victims’ bodies away from his truck.

They also witnessed Ackley making arrangements over the phone for someone to come pick him up and take him away from the scene.

When police arrived, the witnesses indicated to the officers that Ackley smelled strongly of alcohol and that they believed he was intoxicated.

Ackley was arrested and charged with two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide.

While in custody, he made various statements to police officers warning them that he was a member of the KKK and that he “would bring the weight of the Klan down upon” them.

The trial court overruled a motion from Ackley to suppress the statements he made to the police during the investigation and the matter proceeded to trial.

On the morning that the trial was set to commence, Ackley decided to enter guilty pleas to both counts as charged in the indictment.

In a subsequent plea hearing, the trial court told Ackley that, while there was a presumption of a prison sentence, such a sentence was not mandatory and Ackley could possibly be placed on community control.

After considering the presentence investigation report and victim impact statements, the trial court ordered Ackley to serve eight years on each count to be served consecutively for a total of 16 years in prison.

On appeal, Ackley contended that his guilty pleas were not voluntary because the trial court failed to advise him that an aggravated vehicular homicide conviction carries a mandatory prison sentence.

“According to Crim.R. 11(C)(2)(a), one of the duties the trial court has when determining whether a defendant’s guilty plea is made knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily is to advise the defendant at the sentencing hearing that the defendant is not eligible for probation or for the imposition of community control sanctions,” wrote Judge Robin Piper on behalf of the court of appeals.

In Ackley’s case, the trial court informed him that he could “theoretically” receive a community control sanction when, in fact, he was subject to a mandatory prison sentence.

“After reviewing the record, and based upon the totality of the circumstances surrounding the plea, we do not find Ackley subjectively understood the implications of his plea and the rights he waived,” wrote Judge Piper.

Given the misstatement of the trial court, the appellate panel concluded that Ackley would not have otherwise made his guilty plea.

It noted that the plea form that Ackley signed also erroneously listed his possible sentences.

“Therefore, at no time prior to pleading guilty was Ackley properly informed that he would face mandatory prison time and we cannot say that Ackley would have tendered his plea despite the trial court’s error,” Judge Piper concluded.

Having found that Ackley was prejudiced, the judgment of the Madison County court was reversed and the matter remanded for further proceedings.

Presiding Judge Robert Hendrickson and Judge Michael Powell joined Judge Piper to form the majority.

The case is cited State v. Ackley, 2014-Ohio-876.

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