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Judge recusal postpones hearing in crash deaths of Marine recruits
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Donald P. Williams
Marine Recruits Tragedy
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Marines Laid To Rest
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By ED RUNYAN
WARREN
Dozens of friends and family members of three Marine Corps recruits filled the courtroom Wednesday morning, but the hearing for Donald Williams Jr. of Austintown, accused of causing the deaths of the three young men March 31, had to be rescheduled.
Trumbull County Common Pleas Court Judge W. Wyatt McKay, who was to preside over the case, instead recused himself because he knows the family of one of the victims. Judge McKay said the hearing will be Tuesday morning before Judge Andrew Logan.
The hearing was supposed to determine whether bond for Williams would be reduced from $250,000. Williams sat through the hearing in jail clothing and handcuffs with other prisoners.
He has been in the county jail since Monday afternoon, when he turned himself in at the jail. He faces three counts of aggravated vehicular homicide and three counts of aggravated vehicular assault and could spend up to 191/2 years in prison if convicted.
Michael Burnett, an assistant county prosecutor, prepared a document for the hearing that said Williams, 45, was driving at an excessive speed at the time of the crash and had two anti-anxiety medications in his system: diazepam (also known as Valium) and N-Desmethyldiazepam.
The website www.toppharmacy.com says diazepam is the active ingredient in Valium and is used to treat anxiety disorders, muscle spasms and seizures and to control agitation caused by alcohol withdrawal. One side effect is drowsiness.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol has refused to release the toxicology report regarding any chemicals found in Williams’ blood after the accident.
Williams told investigators he thinks he “blacked out” just before the accident on state Route 5 in Leavittsburg. His semi hit the back of a car stopped at a traffic light driven by a Marine Corps recruiter.
The three recruits in the back seat all died, and three other people, including people in other vehicles, were seriously injured.
Burnett, in asking the court to keep Williams’ bond at the $250,000 set by Judge Peter Kontos on Monday, said Williams has had “a series of criminal offenses and infractions that span three decades.”
Williams was sent to prison in 1989 on a felony drug offense, was convicted of selling alcohol to minors and contributing to the delinquency of minors in 2000, was arrested for falsification in 2001, was convicted of drunken driving in 2000, 1993 and 1987 and had a series of moving violations in 2006, 2005, 2001 and 1997.
Burnett also said Williams lied on his application to get hired by Strimbu Trucking of Brookfield by claiming he had no criminal record, prior arrests or history of drunken driving. He was fired by Strimbu on April 7, 2010, after testing positive for marijuana, Burnett said.