Braceville man gets eight years in prison after his 14th drunken driving conviction

Staff report

WARREN

Russell D. Balch, 49, was sentenced to the maximum of eight years in prison Tuesday after pleading guilty last month to his fourth felony drunken-driving offense and 14th DUI overall.

Balch, of Arhaven Drive in Braceville Township, did not make a statement before learning his sentence in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, but Judge Andrew Logan said he believed Balch deserved more than eight years.

“I’m concerned eight years isn’t enough,” Judge Logan said. “It’s all I can give you.”

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

Mike Burnett, assistant county prosecutor, said Balch not only registered a 0.223 blood-alcohol level during his most recent drunken- driving episode, almost three times the legal limit of 0.08, but Balch also consumed meth amphetamine and marijuana.

Balch has had 72 prior criminal cases and was convicted of aggravated vehicular assault in 2005. Burnett said he has never encountered anyone before Balch with four felony operating a vehicle intoxicated convictions. An OVI can be a felony if the driver has a lot of OVIs within a specific time frame.

Because of Balch’s history of drunken driving and threats of violence against two women, Burnett asked Judge Logan in February to order Balch held in the county jail without eligibility to make bond pending the conclusion of his case. The judge set Balch’s bond at $1 million, later reducing it to $100,000.

Balch’s most recent OVI arrest was Dec. 11 in Newton Falls after a neighbor called 911 saying Balch was refusing to leave her property and making death threats against her and her mother.

Balch later drove away in his father’s car and was arrested on OVI and other offenses.

Burnett said Balch threatened to kill the two women and stated “jail won’t hold him forever and that he is going to cut their throats once released.”