A truck driver who caused a chain reaction crash with a bus, killing three Ohio high school band members and three adults, was convicted of vehicular homicide on Friday but cleared of more serious charges.
The three children murdered in the 2023 collision were riding on a charter bus, while a teacher and two chaperones in another vehicle struck by the tractor trailer also died.
Licking County Judge David Branstool found Jacob McDonald, of Zanesville, guilty of six misdemeanour charges of vehicular murder but not aggravated vehicular homicide, a felony.
The judge determined that McDonald’s conduct in triggering the crash were careless but not reckless. McDonald might have faced three decades in prison if he had been convicted on all of the more serious crimes, but his counsel says he now faces a maximum term of 18 months.
Before the judge could complete announcing the verdict, some of the victims’ families exited the court.
Prosecutors claim McDonald was speeding and failed to brake for slowing traffic on Interstate 70 while glancing at his phone.
His defence counsel, Chris Brigdon, challenged this, claiming that the cellular data referenced by investigators did not clearly illustrate what happened before to the incident. After the verdict was issued, Brigdon indicated that McDonald was still distraught by the crash since he knew he caused it.
According to police, McDonald’s truck collided with an SUV and pushed it into a bus transporting pupils from the Tuscarawas Valley Local School District in eastern Ohio. Several of the vehicles caught fire.
The crash occurred in Licking County, east of Columbus, and involved five automobiles. The students were on their way to a symposium hosted by the Ohio School Boards Association in Columbus.
Reference: Truck Driver Found Guilty on Lesser Charges in Bus Crash That Killed 6 on School Trip
