Trumbull Co. man faces murder charge in fatal crash

By ED RUNYAN

runyan@vindy.com

WARREN

For the first time in Trumbull County, a person has been indicted on a murder charge in a fatal motor vehicle crash. If convicted, Joseph L. Myers, 31, could get a life prison sentence with parole eligibility after 15 years.

His indictment, released Wednesday, says Myers was driving more than 90 miles per hour on West Market Street late April 11 with a “total indifference for the lives or well-being of others” when he crashed into the back of Anthony Blackwell’s car, killing him.

The crash was captured on a surveillance-video system installed on a pole on West Market Street. It shows Myers driving around several cars on the four-lane road before veering left at the Parkman Road intersection and causing a four-vehicle crash.

Myers was indicted earlier on four lesser charges that could have sent him to prison for about 10 years if convicted, but Wednesday’s superseding indictment accuses him of murder and 11 other charges.

County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins said this is the first time his office has used the “felony murder” statute in a crash fatal, but it’s been prosecuted and upheld in two cases in southern Ohio.

In addition to murder, Myers also is now charged with involuntary manslaughter, aggravated vehicular homicide, four counts of felonious assault, three counts of aggravated vehicular assault, one of failure to comply with the orders of a police officer and one of felony assault.

Myers, who has addresses on Vermont Street Northwest, North Leavitt Road in Leavittsburg and Houtzdale, Pa., has been in the county jail in lieu of $150,000 bond since the crash.

Warren police said they attempted to stop Myers for a traffic violation before the crash, but Myers fled. The officer broke off the chase a short time before the crash, which killed Blackwell, 34, of North Park Avenue, who was stopped at the traffic light. Myers and four other people were injured.

To prove felony murder, prosecutors will have to show that it was “foreseeable he would likely kill or seriously injure others due to his outrageous conduct,” his indictment says.

In 2013, the Ohio Supreme Court upheld the two felony murder convictions of Mark Gerth in a case in which he crashed into a taxi cab in Cincinnati going 57 mph, knowingly causing the deaths of the driver and a passenger while committing felonious assault against both. He was sentenced to 48 years to life in prison.