Former mayor convicted

TIFFIN, Ohio (AP) -- A former Findlay mayor and state representative accused of causing a January traffic accident that killed a woman pleaded no-contest and was convicted of vehicular manslaughter.
Tiffin Municipal Court Judge Mark Repp on Thursday fined John Stozich $750, suspended his driver's license for two years and sentenced him to 90 days in jail. However, Repp suspended the jail term and placed the 77-year-old Stozich on probation for three years.
Police said Stozich drove through a stop sign at a Seneca County intersection Jan. 16 and hit a car driven by Cynthia Brown, 35, of New Riegel, who died en route to a hospital.
Repp told Brown's family, including her husband Ron, that no good would come from putting Stozich behind bars.
"As I look at Mr. Stozich today, I see a broken man," Repp said. "If I thought putting this man in jail would do anything for him, for you, or for your children, I would do it."
Brown was the director of nursing at a retirement home and the mother of four.
Stozich completed his second term as Findlay mayor on Jan. 1 after eight years in office. He had decided to run for a third term last year, but dropped out of the Republican primary in April for health reasons.
He was elected to five consecutive terms in the Ohio House and then served in Gov. George Voinovich's cabinet.