| Friday, October 12, 2007 4:50 PM CDT |
Man accused of driving high in fatal wreck gets bench trial
By Pantagraph staff
BLOOMINGTON — A Bloomington man accused of driving under the influence and causing a fatal accident in March has opted for a bench trial on the charges.
Octavius Johnson, 25, of the 600 block of West Market Street, told Judge Robert Frietag he wants the court and not a jury to hear the case against him. Frietag set a Nov. 27 bench trial date on the four counts of aggravated DUI.
Johnson was driving east on Empire Street on March 10 when his car collided at Veterans Parkway with a northbound car driven by Ryan Arnold of Normal, police said.
A passenger in Johnson’s car, DeJuan Lockwood, 25, of Bloomington was killed in the accident. Another passenger in the car, Tiana Hubbard, was critically injured and her sister, Ashanti Hubbard, suffered minor injuries.
Information at a coroner’s inquest into Lockwood’s death indicated that Johnson’s blood-alcohol level was 0.029, less than half the legal limit of 0.08 to drive in Illinois. Both Johnson and Arnold tested positive for tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the primary substance that produces the effects of marijuana, according to police.
Frietag told Johnson that if convicted of the allegations he faces three to 14 years in prison on the first two counts and one to 12 years on the later two DUI counts. A conviction on the first two counts would require Johnson to serve 85 percent of any prison sentence, Frietag said.
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