TRUMBULL COUNTY Grand jury to weigh vehicular homicide case

The defendant is being held in lieu of a $50,000 bond.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A Trumbull County grand jury will consider the case of a 57-year-old Arnold Drive Southwest woman charged with aggravated vehicular homicide.
Dressed in dark blue Trumbull County jail overalls, Sandra Carmichael told Judge Thomas Gysegem of municipal court Tuesday that she waived her right to a preliminary hearing.
Had a preliminary hearing been held, the judge would have heard testimony from police and witnesses and determined whether there was enough evidence to send the case to the grand jury.
It is not known when the grand jury will hear the case.
Carmichael and her attorney, Phil Arbie of the Ohio Public Defender's Commission, declined to comment.
Carmichael, who is being held in the county jail in lieu of a $50,000 bond, has pleaded innocent to the charge.
Several family members and friends of Carmichael's attended the hearing but did not want to speak to reporters.
Struck girl on sidewalk
Carmichael is accused of striking Tanara Earnest, 10, of Third Street, on the afternoon of May 9 with her car. Tanara died shortly after being hit, police said.
Tanara and two friends were walking on a sidewalk along Highland Avenue when the girl was struck.
Police said Monday that tests are being done to determine whether Carmichael was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash.
Tanara was a fourth-grader at Roosevelt Elementary School in Warren.
Last year she was featured in a Vindicator article when she and several classmates wrote letters to city school administrators as part of a journal buddy project.
Tanara had corresponded with schools Superintendent Betty English and used the name Reggie. Tanara said she used the name to throw her journal buddy off the trail of her true identity.
sinkovich@vindy.com