BUCYRUS-Justin Stacy, 24, of Mt. Gilead, appeared in Crawford County Common Pleas Court to seek occupational driving privileges on Friday.
Stacy was placed on five years of community control in January after he pleaded guilty to one count of failure to comply, a felony of the third degree punishable with up to 36 months in prison. Stacy’s attorney Ed Bibler addressed the court:
“Mr. Stacy has complied with every aspect of his community control to my knowledge. He’s found it extremely difficult to get transportation to and from work. If the court does not grant him privileges, it will create a financial hardship. I understand he pled guilty to a serious charge; however, he is a young man who needs to work to support himself. We just request occupational privileges.” Bibler said.
Judge Leuthold asked Chief Probation Officer Eric Bohach about Stacy’s compliance while on community control:
“ I had no issues with him while I had him, but when he got transferred to Chris Heydinger, he had an issue on his first office visit. He tested positive for marijuana. Mr. Heydinger had a heart-to-heart talk with him about that but did not file a violation,” Bohach said.
“Mr. Heydinger does at times give people a second chance. He tries to mentor young people, and I would not disagree with that,” Leuthold said.
Leuthold then reviewed the record and addressed Stacy:
“The defendant was driving at speeds between 130 and 155 miles an hour. He used an emergency crossover, hit a median, and went to the rear of a business to hide the car. Multiple law-enforcement agencies had to be dispatched. Fortunately, no one was hurt. I am going to be blunt with you, young man. Your lawyer made a good point to me about you needing driving privileges for work, but then I find out that you’re using marijuana, not complying with community control, and lying to your probation officer. That hurts your case. Your lawyer has asked me to reward you for good behavior, and I’m happy to do that, but you haven’t had good behavior. If I’m going to ever reinstate your driving privileges, I’m going to expect perfect behavior. I’m going to deny your motion. I’m going to reconsider another motion in seven months. I expect perfect behavior with no infractions and clean testing. Mr. Heydinger could’ve filed a Community control violation, and you could be sitting here in front of me today facing the possibility of 36 months in prison. Do you understand? If you mess up on community control again, you’re not going to have to worry about getting your driving privileges. You’re going to have to worry about how to stay out of prison. I want perfect behavior before I give you privileges. You have had two breaks. I’m not giving you a third one. Behave yourself.
In other court news, Raymond Blankenship, who was due to stand trial next week on charges of domestic violence, a felony of the third degree, was not present for a hearing today. He is currently in isolation in the Crawford County Jail after testing positive for COVID.
Assistant Prosecutor Ryan Hoovler told the court that he was dismissing the new domestic violence charge because the victim recanted:
“We are going to dismiss the domestic violence charge and pursue community control violations. There were multiple conversations between Mr. Blankenship and the victim that resulted in her recanting her statement. There is obvious evidence that Mr. Blankenship is a part of that conversation, and we will just leave it at that. The state of Ohio believes at this point that justice is best served through a community control violation,” Hoovler said.
Probation officer Kylie Sinclair arrested Blankenship after she observed him at Menard’s in Ontario while there was an open warrant out for his arrest. He was placed on community control for a fourth and fifth-degree felony punishable with up to 18 and 12 months in prison, respectively. He was ordered to have no contact with the victim with whom he continues to have conversations resulting in a violation of the no-contact order placed on him. If convicted of the community control violation, Blankenship faces 30 months in prison.
Judge Leuthold set the matter for a full hearing. Blankenship is represented by attorney Ed Bibler.