Man gets 8 years in prison after 4th OVI

WARREN — Russell D. Balch, 49, was sentenced to the maximum of eight years in prison today after pleading guilty earlier to his fourth felony drunken driving charge and a specification of being a repeat OVI offender.

Balch, of Arhaven Drive in Braceville Township, did not make a statement before his sentencing in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, but Judge Andrew Logan said he would have sentenced Balch to more prison time if he could have.

Balch's driver's license also is suspended for life.

Mike Burnett, assistant county prosecutor, said Balch had 13 prior drunken driving offenses.

Balch was arrested Dec. 11 in Newton Falls after a neighbor called 911 saying he was refusing to leave her property and making death threats against her and her mother.

He later drove away in his father’s car and was arrested on a drunken-driving charge and other offenses. His blood-alcohol level was 0.223, nearly three times the legal limit in Ohio of 0.08.