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Judge overrules victim's family, sentences friend to 30 days for traffic death
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Assistant Prosecutor Nick Brevetta told a judge in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court the family of a man who was killed in an accident last March had asked that the defendant not serve any jail time.
But Judge Shirley Christian said Friday while Jonathan Shellenberger had genuine remorse, his conduct could not be condoned for getting behind the wheel of a car after smoking marijuana, so she sentenced Shellenberger to 30 days in the county jail on misdemeanor charges of vehicular homicide and driving while under the influence.
Shellenberger, 25, of Pembrook Avenue, Salem, originally had been charged with felony aggravated vehicular homicide in a March 24, 2014, accident on Garfield Road in Goshen Township that killed Anthony Michael Colon, 23, who was his best friend and cousin, said Ron Yarwood, Shellenberger’s attorney.
Reports said Shellenberger’s car went off the road between Seacrist Road and state Route 534 and hit a telephone pole.
Shellenberger tested positive for having marijuana in his system, however, the type of test given could not show if Shellenberger was under the influence of marijuana at the time of the accident, Brevetta said. Brevetta said the test showed only that he had marijuana in his system, which is why the charge was dropped from a felony to a misdemeanor.
Brevetta said even though the victims did not want Shellenberger to be incarcerated, he thought some sort of jail time was necessary because of the fact a life was taken and Shellenberger’s conduct was reckless.
Yarwood asked for no jail time or a sentence that would allow Shellenberger to continue working. In the year he has known Shellenberger, he has gotten sober, obtained his General Educational Development degree and has gotten a good job with a chance at advancement, Yarwood said.
Shellenberger described the seconds after the accident when he addressed the judge before breaking down in tears.
“I looked over, and I heard him – he couldn’t breathe,” Shellenberger said. “There was blood coming out of his nose, and I knew right then and there he wasn’t going to make it.”
Judge Christian said she had no doubt that Shellenberger was sorry, but she said he had to pay some type of penalty not just because of his actions, but to deter other people from getting behind the wheel of a car when they are impaired.
She also ordered Shellenberger to perform 400 hours of community service and to pay fines and court costs and suspended his driver’s license for a year. She said she would consider a request for work release if it is submitted.