Boys reach deal after decoy causes wreck

Two of the five boys will testify against their accomplices.
KENTON, Ohio (AP) -- Two of five boys accused of putting a decoy deer in a country road, causing a car crash that seriously injured two other boys, reached plea deals in which they agreed to testify against their alleged accomplices.
Jesse Howard, 17, and Dailyn Campbell, 16, each pleaded no contest Wednesday to two counts of vehicular vandalism and juvenile charges of delinquency by possession of criminal tools and misdemeanor theft.
The boys could be in custody until their 21st birthdays. They also could receive eight years in an adult prison for each vehicular vandalism count if they get into further trouble. The charges were filed under the state's serious youthful offender law.
A sentencing date was not set by visiting Judge Gary McKinley of Union County, who was hearing the case in Hardin County Common Pleas Court.
The other three defendants -- Joshua Lowe, Taylor Rogers and Corey Manns -- have trials scheduled in the fall.
Each faces four counts of felonious assault and one count of vehicular vandalism with a serious youthful offender specification. They also face juvenile charges of possession of criminal tools and petty theft.
The accident
Robert Roby Jr. of Kenton swerved to avoid the decoy deer Nov. 18, and crashed his car into a pole and fence. His neck, collar bone, arm and leg were broken. His passenger, Dustin Zachariah, has brain damage, Hardin County Prosecutor Brad Bailey said.
The boys stole the decoy deer from a man's home and created a base to help it stand upright because it only had two legs, Bailey told the judge.
The boys then drove up and down the road watching as drivers swerved to avoid the decoy, Bailey said.
Kenton is about 55 miles northwest of Columbus.