Legal Question in Traffic Law in Ohio

Re: Automobile accidents

This question obviously involves a terrible accident. Are you asking this question on behalf of the person who has been charged or on behalf of the family of the victim?

In either case, you should be talking directly to an attorney. You did not ask for advice on what should or should not be done and the answer would depend on who you were concerned about anyway, so, I will try to answer your question.

When a person under the age of 18 (a minor) does something that would be considered a crime if done by an adult, the minor is charged with delinquency "in connection with..." the penalty for deliquency can be severe but not near as severe as for an adult.

If you want to give me a call and discuss this in more detail I may be able to offer some suggestions, depending on who you are concerned about. In any event, a call to some attorney is a very good idea.

Call if you like. No charge or obligation for the confidenial call.

Good Luck!

DHD

Re: Automobile accidents

Because the person in question is under 18, they are a minor and the case will initially be in juvenile court. In juvenile court, a criminal charge is called a delinquency. We don't like calling minors "criminals" so we call them "delinquents" instead.

This minor is facing 4 criminal charges, 1 involuntary manslaughter, 1 aggravated vehicular homicide, and 2 vehicular assault. These would all be felonies. If the person here is close to age 18, say 15 or older, there is a chance the prosecutor could try to get the minor treated as an adult. This is called a "bind over." If treated as an adult, the minor will be facing serious jail time for those four offenses.

Because of the charges, I can only assume the person hit someone with their vehicle and killed them. Is this the case? I strongly recommend this person seek an attorney to help him or her face these charges. He or she should look for someone who practices in juvenile court as well as adult criminal courts.

If you or this person has any further questions, feel free to contact me.