Foutz seeks early release from prison

By Peter H. Milliken

The woman is remorseful and has behaved well in prison, her lawyer says.

YOUNGSTOWN — A woman who caused a 100-mph, rear-end crash that severely burned an Austintown patrolman more than two years ago has applied for early release from prison.

Adrien Foutz, 24, of Iowa Avenue, Girard, is asking to be released from the Franklin Pre-Release Center in Columbus, after having served slightly more than 18 months of a two-year prison term.

A judicial release hearing will be at 2:30 p.m. Feb. 4 before Judge John M. Durkin of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, who imposed the prison time in June 2008 after Foutz pleaded no-contest to aggravated vehicular assault. The judge found her guilty.

Patrolman Ross Linert was critically injured and burned over 40 percent of his body in the fiery Nov. 11, 2007, crash on North Meridian Road at Interstate 680.

After the accident, Linert, 48, spent nearly two months in a medically induced coma and underwent multiple skin grafts.

Crash investigators said the collision dislodged the fuel-sending unit in the cruiser’s gas tank, allowing fuel to come into contact with a spark, causing an explosion and fire.

Foutz told a state trooper she drank three shots and two beers at an Austintown bar just before the crash. Her blood-alcohol level was 0.279 — more than three times the legal limit.

In a motion for judicial release, Foutz’ lawyer, J. Gerald Ingram, said Foutz has completed many self- improvement courses in prison, “has always shown genuine remorse, has adjusted well to incarceration and has not received any disciplinary infractions.”

Foutz gave birth in prison to a girl, who is now 16 months old and being cared for by a relative. Release from prison would allow Foutz “to begin to foster a relationship with her daughter and ease the disruption to the child’s life caused by the absence of her mother,” Ingram said in the motion.

In Foutz’s plea agreement, the prosecution agreed not to oppose judicial release after Foutz served 18 months in prison, Ingram added.

Because of the severity of the accident, Linert said Tuesday he and his family hope Foutz serves the full two years in prison. Linert said, however, if the judge wants to grant her early release, that is his prerogative.

“It’s put a hardship on my family and everyone that knows me,” Linert said. “I hope to return to the police force, but right now, it’s still up in the air.”

Linert said he is undergoing physical therapy in the vocational rehabilitation program at Forum Health Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital in Howland under workers’ compensation.

Linert said he could make only limited comments because he has a pending civil lawsuit in common pleas court here against Foutz and the Ford Motor Co., which made the Crown Victoria police cruiser he occupied when the crash occurred.

milliken@vindy.com