Burnett recognized as Prosecutor of Year by Northeast Ohio unit of MADD

Staff report

WARREN

Mike Burnett, an assistant Trumbull County prosecutor who specializes in felony drunken-driving cases and vehicle-related homicides and assaults, has been recognized as Prosecutor of the Year by the Northeast Ohio unit of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Burnett, who has been an assistant county prosecutor for 15 years, was honored at a ceremony Thursday night in Independence.

Julie Leggett, executive director of MADD’s Northeast Ohio office, said Burnett has demonstrated the ability to help the victims and survivors of alcohol-and drug-related crashes understand the legal process involved in the prosecution of individuals charged in such cases.

“It’s nice to be recognized for the hard work we do here in Trumbull County,” Burnett said.

Leggett said she came to Trumbull County to assist the victims and survivors of two specific cases in the past year in which Burnett was involved.

One was the deaths of Jamie Danes, 37, and his wife, Emily, 29, in a crash on South Canal Street in Newton Falls in September 2012.

Paul Wodianka, 43, of Diamond, received a 10-year prison sentence in April in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court for hitting the couple’s vehicle head-on while intoxicated with alcohol and drugs for which he had no prescription.

The other was the death of pedestrian Josh J. Kale, 19, on March 17, 2012, on Riverview Street Northwest.

Authorities determined that Kale was hit by Debra Paden, 49, of Warren, who was legally drunk but was driving at the posted speed limit and in her lane of traffic.

She was charged with a felony offense, but a Trumbull County grand jury refused to indict her, and the case was handled through Warren Municipal Court.

She eventually was sentenced to six months in the Trumbull County Jail.

Burnett doesn’t handle cases at the municipal court level, but he still was involved in the Kale case, Leggett said.

MADD also honored 52 police officers for their work on drunken-driving cases but none from Trumbull County.