Plea in electrocution case

YOUNGSTOWN — The accomplice of a man who was electrocuted with 23,000 volts while trying to steal copper wire from an Ohio Edison substation has pleaded guilty to negligent homicide.

Kenneth M. Miller, 33, of First Street, pleaded Wednesday before Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, who will sentence him at 10:15 a.m. Dec. 19.

The electrocution victim, James O. Leach, 50, of East Auburndale Avenue, died when he was jolted with the high voltage – 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 Ohio Edison 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.

Miller was originally charged with involuntary manslaughter, disrupting public services and breaking and entering.

In the plea agreement, the manslaughter charge, which was a first degree felony, was reduced to a first degree misdemeanor charge of negligent homicide.

Also, Miller pleaded guilty as charged to the fourth degree felony charge of disrupting public services; and the prosecution dropped the fifth degree felony breaking and entering charge.

read more in Thursday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com