Ohio AG, crash victim's family opposing Julia Warner's judicial release request

The Ohio Attorney General and the family of Colton Gray are opposed to a request for judicial release filed by Julia Warner, wife of former Marion County judge Jason Warner, who is serving a prison sentence for her involvement in a hit-skip crash that severely injured Gray in 2020.

Julia Warner, age 55, Marion, is an inmate at the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville where she is a serving a two-year sentence after being convicted of one count of complicity to tampering with evidence, a fourth-degree felony, and one count of complicity to leaving the scene of an accident, a third-degree felony, for her role in the June 4, 2020, hit-skip crash in which Colton Gray of Marion was injured.

Former Marion County Common Pleas Court judge Jason D. Warner, age 52, Marion, was also convicted of one count of complicity to tampering with evidence, a fourth-degree felony, and one count of complicity to leaving the scene of an accident, a third-degree felony, and sentenced to two years in prison. He is serving his sentence at the Toledo Correctional Institution.

Special Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Andrea K. Boyd filed a memorandum in opposition to a motion filed by Julia Warner's attorney Lisa M. Tome on Sept. 27 in Marion County Common Pleas Court. Tome filed the motion requesting judicial release on Sept. 4, 2022, in common pleas court. In the memorandum, Boyd states that the family of Colton Gray is also opposed to judicial release being granted to Warner.

Visiting Judge Patricia Cosgrove, who was appointed by the Ohio Supreme Court to preside over the Warners' case, will decide on the motion.

Shannon Taylor, mother of Gray, wrote a letter to Judge Cosgrove that Boyd included in the filing of the memorandum which detailed the harrowing experience and continued issues her son and family have dealt with since the crash occurred on June 4, 2020, at the junction of Ohio 203 and Somerlot-Hoffman Road.

"It seems a tad silly that I am already having to write this letter being that we have only gotten a mere 6 months of peace from this entire ordeal before Julia Warner is already filing for early release, but here we are," Taylor wrote in her letter to Judge Cosgrove. "I think stating the obvious should be first and foremost. Mrs. Warner has spent less time behind bars, serving her punishment than Colton and our family spent dealing with hospitals, physical therapy, investigations, court dates and the trial. We went through 3 years plus of waiting in limbo, dealing with roller coaster and after roller coaster of emotions."

Taylor further detailed the emotional stress and strain her family experienced during the trial and the subsequent appeals process as the Warners sought to avoid going to prison.

Taylor noted that she believes Warner should serve the two-year prison term.

"I honestly feel like 2 years in prison for leaving a child for dead, late at night out in the country is a pretty lenient punishment to begin with," Taylor wrote. "We feel that Mrs. Warner wanting released not even half way through her sentencing seems pretty unfair for everything Colton and our family has been put through. ... So with all that being said Colton and I ask that she not be granted early release and that she serve her full 2 years as stated originally at the sentencing."

According to the motion requesting early release for Julia Warner, which can be viewed on the Marion County Clerk of the Common Pleas Court website, Tome is asking that Warner be placed on community control if the early release is granted. The motion further states that Warner is eligible for judicial release because she has served more than the minimum 180 days in prison mandated by Ohio Revised Code Section 2929.20 in order to file for release.

Warner's attorney further contends that her client has "had an exemplary institutional record" during her period of incarceration at the Ohio Reformatory for Women. The motion states that Warner "has committed no rule infractions and has no disciplinary history. She's completed numerous programs while incarcerated as are thoroughly set forth in the report."

In the memorandum filed by Boyd, which can be viewed on the Marion County Clerk of the Common Pleas Court website, she states that while Warner "may have no infractions on her institutional record, that does not outweigh the serious nature of her offenses and lasting consequences of her actions." Boyd further notes that the Warners fled the crash scene after they observed that Gray was critically injured and left him "unconscious, bleeding, and trapped in his smoking vehicle."

Boyd then details that the injuries Gray suffered in the crash have had serious lingering effects. She states that he experienced "memory loss, major infections, cellulitis in his leg, a tear in his kidney, and Bell's palsy as a result of the crash, and has had to undergo occupational and physical therapy. He cannot work in the same capacity as before the crash, and has been unable to go to college due to his mental and emotional state."

The expected release date/parole eligibility date for Warner is Jan. 23, 2024.

Email: ecarter@gannett.com | Twitter: @AndrewACCarter

This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Ohio AG, victim's family opposing Julia Warner's early release request