MAHONING COUNTY - Woman gets jail in DUI crash that injured 4
The woman's blood-alcohol content was more than twice the legal limit. By BOB JACKSON VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER YOUNGSTOWN -- A 22-year-old Boardman woman was sentenced to 60 days in the Mahoning County jail for a violent traffic crash in which she and three passengers were severely injured. Darlene Schofield, of Wildwood Drive, will be on probation for three years after she is released from jail, said Judge James C. Evans of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. "There is not a day goes by that I don't think about what happened that night," a tearful Schofield told the judge before she was sentenced Thursday. "I think about it when I look in the mirror, and when I breathe." Assistant Prosecutor Jay Macejko said Schofield was driving south on Market Street in March 2003 when she failed to negotiate a curve near Pyatt Street and her car slammed into a metal pole. Had been drinking Macejko said the women had just left a bar, where they had been drinking. Schofield's blood-alcohol content was more than twice Ohio's legal limit of 0.10 at the time, he said. Defense attorney Michael J. Rich acknowledged that Schofield's three passenger's were seriously hurt, and said Schofield was hurt badly as well, hospitalized for five days with broken ribs and a broken leg. Schofield said that she still has facial scars and that her broken nose has not healed properly, making it difficult for her to breathe. Sobbing, she told Judge Evans that she deeply regrets the injuries of her passengers. "Thank God no one died," Rich said. One of the passengers, Jolanna Butler of Youngstown, spoke to the judge on Schofield's behalf. Butler said she and Schofield still are close friends, and she did not want to see Schofield imprisoned. "I understand that everybody has to be punished for what they do, but I feel that she has already suffered enough," Butler said. Prison recommended A background check performed by the Ohio Adult Parole Authority recommended that Schofield be sentenced to prison, but Judge Evans opted instead to place her on probation, with the first 60 days served in the county jail. Judge Evans said he will consider releasing her early from jail, depending on her behavior while she is incarcerated. He suspended Schofield's driver's license for three years and fined her $1,000. He suspended the fine. bjackson@vindy.com