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Lorain Man Gets 7-Year Sentence in Fatal Accident

Posted on: Monday, 10 April 2006, 18:00 CDT

By Julie Wallace, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio

Apr. 10--MEDINA -- A Lorain man who took eight Percocets before his involvement in a crash that killed a 70-year-old York Township man was sentenced Monday to seven years in prison.

Brent Bailey, 29, who also suffers from mental illness, told Medina County Common Pleas Court Judge Christopher Collier that he simply couldn't explain why he ingested eight of the drugs, which are painkillers made up of a combination of acetaminophen and oxycodone, and then made the decision to drive in September.

He said that just before the accident, he started suffering blurred vision, and slowed his vehicle. But instead of pulling over, he continued to try to drive, which is when he struck Joseph Howard.

"I made a horrible mistake," Bailey said, adding later: "I can't express how horrible I feel."

Bailey, who pleaded no contest and was found guilty of aggravated vehicular homicide, struck and killed Howard on state Route 18, just west of Medina, as Howard was trying to retrieve his mail at about 4:30 p.m. A woman traveling behind Bailey was talking to a 911 operator at the time of the accident -- she'd called to report Bailey's erratic driving.

Howard's sister, Myrtle Keller, did not attend the sentencing, but sent a letter to be read. In it, she talked about how her baby brother came to live with her and her husband 44 years ago, and how he never left. His loss was like losing a child for her, she wrote, and she's since been diagnosed as suffering from depression, which has required medication and even trips to the emergency room.

A civil suit filed by Keller against Bailey and his insurance company as a result of her brother's death is scheduled for trial Oct. 30.

"God does forgive... and I will find it in my heart to forgive Mr. Bailey," she wrote. "I will forgive Brent, but I will never, never forget."

Bailey's attorney, Thomas McGuire, said a letter from one of Bailey's counselors suggested that it is commonplace for those suffering from mental illness to self-medicate using Percocet. But Collier, who also revoked Bailey's driving privileges for life, said Bailey wasn't taking responsibility for making the decision himself to take the pills and then drive.

Collier was particularly irked because Bailey had undergone drug treatment as a result of a criminal case filed against him in Lorain County, where he was accused of lying to obtain prescription drugs. He also had a second case pending in Lorain County that accused him of cocaine possession, the judge said.

He shrugged off Bailey's plea for leniency, and instead imposed a sentence of nearly the maximum, which is eight years for the second-degree felony.

"This poor man didn't deserve this," Collier said.

Julie Wallace can be reached at 330-996-3542 or jwallace@thebeaconjournal.com

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio

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Source: Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio)

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