Legal Question in Criminal Law in Ohio

Re: vehicular homocide

It is difficult to give an accurate explanation without more information because there are numerous different ways in which a person can be charged with vehicular homicide or aggravated vehicular homicide. Aggravated vehicular homicide could be several different felony degrees and vehicular homicide is either a misdemeanor of the first degree or felony of the fourth degree.

If you are charged with a misdemeanor of the first degree (M1) you will stay in municipal court and have an arraingment on the charge followed by several pre-trials over the next few months and perhaps a suppression hearing if your attorney can think of a reason to suppress some or all the evidence against you, followed by a trial in maybe 6 months from now depending on the back up at the court. With an M1 you are facing a maximum of 180 days in jail, a $1,000 fine and a lengthy driver's license suspension.

If you are charged with a felony you will have a municipal court appearance followed by a preliminary hearing. The case will then be presented to the grand jury, you will not be present for the grand jury. Then you will have a felony court arraignment followed by a series of pre-trials, suppression hearings followed by trial in about 6-8 months depending on the backlog at the court. With a Felony of the Fourth Degree (F4) you would be facing 18 months in prison, a $5,000 fine and a substantial driver's license suspension.

You should consult and retain an attorney to represent you on this type of charge because you could be facing a lot of prison time. No matter what level offense you are facing or what your criminal history is, when someone is deceased the court is going to sentence heavily.

Please don't hesitate to contact me for more information.