Accomplice to fatal copper theft gets probation and fine

YOUNGSTOWN — The accomplice of a man killed while trying to steal copper wire from an Ohio Edison substation has been sentenced to three years’ probation and fined $500.

Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court imposed the sentence Friday on Kenneth M. Miller, 33, of First Street, who had pleaded guilty last month to negligent homicide and disrupting public services.

In a plea agreement, the prosecution reduced an involuntary manslaughter charge to negligent homicide and dropped a breaking and entering charge.

In addition to fining him and placing him on probation, Judge Sweeney also required Miller to obtain his GED within one year and make restitution in an amount to be determined by Ohio Edison.

James O. Leach, 50, of East Auburndale Avenue, was killed instantly when he was jolted with almost 10 times the voltage of the electric chair at the Oak Hill Avenue substation at 3:36 a.m. on Sept. 13, 2007.

After being electrocuted, Leach fell about 10 feet from a transformer; and a circuit breaker tripped, causing a seven-minute power outage for 1,571 customers in Youngstown and Boardman.

Leach’s body was still smoldering when OE crews arrived and found bolt cutters fused to his neck. A large hole had been cut in the fence, and a walkie-talkie and a backpack full of tools lay near Leach’s body.

Using an emergency release plan to control the inmate population, the county jail released Leach, who had been held on a theft charge, just 11 hours before his death.