YOUNGSTOWN Woman gets 6 months in jail for deaths of two

The Salem woman will spend six months in jail and can never drive again.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- For Gary Barlow, six months in jail wasn't enough.
For Ellen McGee, it was too much.
Each had an interest in what happened to Megan Buchanan. Judge R. Scott Krichbaum knew he couldn't please them both.
Buchanan, 20, of Salem, was the driver of a car that crashed into a telephone pole on Market Street in January, killing two of her closest friends. She pleaded guilty in September to two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide.
Barlow, who lives in Lorain, is the father of one of the victims, 23-year-old Nicole M. Barlow of Salem. He wanted Buchanan sent to prison.
"She needs to be punished," he said. "I don't want her in prison for life, but she needs to pay her dues."
McGee is the mother of the other victim, 23-year-old Donel M. Morlan, also of Salem. She was not in court Thursday but provided a written statement for the judge.
"I don't blame Megan," she said in her letter. "I don't want to see her go to jail. I think this was just a terrible accident."
Her sentence
Judge Krichbaum placed Buchanan on probation for five years, ordering her to spend the first six months in the community-based correctional facility, which is a jail on Market Street operated by the Community Correction Association.
He also suspended her driver's license for life.
"You can't cause the death of another human being with a vehicle and ever drive again," he said.
Afterward, Barlow was upset with the sentence.
"I used to believe in justice, but no more," he said. "She got away with killing two people."
A court-ordered background check by CCA recommended that Buchanan be placed on probation without incarceration.
Defense attorney Mark Lavelle said the women had been drinking at a downtown bar the night of the accident. Some young men they'd met at the bar were behind them in another car. Lavelle said the cars were passing each other and the occupants were making gestures back and forth.
Not clear what happened
"The facts get a little fuzzy as to how things played out after that," Lavelle said.
He believes the other car clipped the rear of Buchanan's, causing her to lose control of the vehicle. It hit a telephone pole at Wayne Avenue, spun around the pole and landed back on the street, where it was hit head-on by the other car.
Judge Krichbaum said he has never seen a case with two victims' families so far apart in how they felt.
"One wants prison and the other pleads for mercy," he said.
He was impressed by the fact that Morlan's grandmother invited Buchanan to live with her after the accident.
bjackson@vindy.com