COURT Judge suspends man's jail time for car death

The judge suspended a 90-day jail sentence.
NILES -- One week after pleading no contest to a vehicular manslaughter charge, a city man learned he will serve no jail time.
Dennis L. Shoemaker, 43, of High Street, appeared before Judge Thomas W. Townley Wednesday in Niles Municipal Court, who found him guilty and fined him $500 and court costs.
The judge suspended a 90-day jail sentence, citing circumstances surrounding the accident.
Shoemaker, who was initially cited in April, was the driver of a car that ran over 14-year-old Dean Gillespie the morning of Jan. 16.
Icy roads and a dark morning were reportedly factors in Judge Townley's decision.
Vehicular manslaughter is a second-degree misdemeanor. The maximum penalty is 90 days in jail and a $750 fine.
Dean, a Niles Middle School eighth-grader, was walking to school Jan. 16 when he was struck at Linden and Leslie avenues. An autopsy showed he died of blunt force trauma.
Investigations by city police have not determined why Gillespie was in the road and did not indicate any other vehicles were involved.
Initially, police thought Dean, who suffered from seizures, may have fallen during a seizure.
The child's family, however, has said the seizures Dean suffered from were not the type to cause him to fall.
The family also told The Vindicator they believe Dean was initially struck by another vehicle and then by Shoemaker's car.
The family has hired an attorney to investigate the death.