Lower bond sought in crash

Staff report

WARREN

The attorney for Donald P. Williams Jr. of Austintown says his client had only a “therapeutic” amount of Valium in his system at the time of the fatal crash in March that killed three Marine Corps recruits.

Atty. J. Gerald Ingram, in asking Judge Andrew Logan of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court to lower Williams’ bond from $250,000 to $50,000, noted prosecutors apparently didn’t think the level of drugs in Williams’ system was enough to charge him with driving while impaired or drunken driving.

Ingram made those arguments in a motion he filed Thursday. Judge Logan will have the opportunity to lower Williams’ bond Tuesday, when Williams is scheduled for his first pretrial hearing.

Ingram also argues that the charges against Williams — three counts of aggravated vehicular homicide and three counts of aggravated vehicular assault — accuse him of being reckless, not of committing an intentional act.

Ingram said prosecutors have overstated the seriousness of Williams’ criminal record, as his convictions all occurred between 1987 and 2000: a felony drug offense, three drunken-driving convictions and selling alcohol to minors.

“Mr. Williams has led a law-abiding life since at least 2001 when he was allegedly arrested for falsification,” Ingram wrote to Judge Logan.

Williams was driving a semi tractor that hit the back of a stopped car driven by a Marine Corps recruiter March 31, 2010, on state Route 5 in Leavittsburg.

Three Trumbull County recruits in the back seat were killed, and other people were injured.