By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
Michael Blankenship’s future balanced on a knife’s edge, but Crawford County Common Pleas Court Judge Sean Leuthold ultimately decided he could not set a poor precedent for violating judicial release.
Twenty-seven-year-old Blankenship appeared in court Wednesday morning to answer for violating his community control after being granted judicial release. He admitted to operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol, being outside his address after curfew, having a blood alcohol level of .08, and being observed drinking alcohol at two bars in Bucyrus.
Though Blankenship admitted to the violations, the repercussions still needed to be decided.
Assistant prosecutor Ryan Hoovler noted the number of charges Blankenship pleaded to in 2012 under the purview of Judge Russell Wiseman, which included a sentence far from the maximum.
“The fact of the matter is he got in trouble,” Hoovler said. “When Mr. Blankenship is at bars, he violates the law. I don’t think there’s any other opportunity to give Mr. Blankenship. He had the opportunity.”
Defense attorney Sebastian Berger said his client made changes in his life since he was released from prison, including getting a job, paying his Municipal Court fines with the help of his grandmother, and getting his driver’s license back.
“Yes, he did make the mistake of going out to drink,” Berger acknowledged, but he asked the court for leniency in sentencing.
Penny Blankenship, the defendant’s grandmother, spoke up on her grandson’s behalf.
“If he didn’t go to jail, he’d be dead today,” Penny Blankenship said. “He’s doing great compared to a lot of people I know.”
“The fact is I made a mistake,” Blankenship said. “I’m very disappointed in doing so.”
Leuthold admitted that he had a tough decision to make.
“I specifically said no alcohol, no bars. I went through a long litany of what you weren’t supposed to do,” Leuthold said.
The judge was apprehensive when he granted Blankenship judicial release in 2016, but followed the sentencing established by Wiseman that allowed the defendant to be released after serving five years on a 10-year prison sentence. The combined sentences, which included the illegal conveyance of drugs onto a detention facility, four counts of drug trafficking, and tampering with evidence, could have received up to 24.5 years if a first-degree felony of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity had not been dismissed.
“If I just let this go . . . what does that say about our probation program?” Leuthold asked.
As Leuthold re-imposed the 10-year sentence, Blankenship leaned back in his chair and looked at the stained glass dome in despair.
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