Ohio driver who admitted to watching sports on phone before fatal crash sentenced
LISBON – A driver who admitted to watching sports on his phone moments before a fatal crash that killed an 81-year-old Jackson Township woman and seriously injured her 83-year-old husband has been sentenced to three years in prison.
A Columbiana County jury convicted Lowell Horst, 29, of the Canfield area last week on charges of aggravated vehicular homicide and vehicular assault in the September 2022 crash, the Salem News reported. The jury deliberated more than an hour after hearing testimony over two days.
Common Pleas Judge Megan Bickerton, who announced her sentencing decision Thursday, also imposed a state-mandated 15-year suspension of Horst's driver's license. Prosecutors had requested the maximum five-year sentence, the Salem News said. Horst's attorneys asked for a suspended sentence and probation.
The judge then denied Horst's attorneys' request for a stay of the prison sentence while Horst's appeals are pending. She revoked Horst's unsecured $75,000 bond and ordered him immediately taken into custody and held at the Columbiana County Jail before his transfer to state prison, the Salem News reported.
Related: Canfield-area man indicted in crash death of Jackson Township woman
What happened in fatal crash in Columbiana County?
On Sept. 23, 2022 around 4:25 p.m., Leslie Coss, a Timken retiree, was driving himself and his wife Mary Coss, east on state Route 172 in a GMC Terrain SUV. According to the Salem News' interview with the Coss' daughter, the couple were headed to the Mountaineer casino in Cumberland, West Virginia, to play slots.
Horst was driving west on Route 172 around a curve at high speed, went left of center and collided with the Coss' Terrain, the patrol found.
Mary Coss was pronounced dead at the scene. Leslie Coss was transported by helicopter to Aultman Hospital in Canton. He never walked again and died in January 2023. Horst had minor injuries.
Lowell Horst admitted to watching sports highlights on phone
According to court records, Horst admitted to the patrol that right before the crash he was watching sports highlights on his phone while driving.
Bickerton in August ruled that Horst voluntarily gave his statement, the statement was admissible in court and the trooper had not violated Horst's Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination.
Horst's attorney in closing arguments to the jury stuck to his client's account that Leslie Coss had pulled out of a parking lot in front of Horst, the Salem News reported. But an Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper testified that he found no evidence at the crash scene that Horst had swerved as Horst claimed. And data from the airbag system in Horst's vehicle indicated he had been driving at 68 mph.
At the sentencing, Horst asked the judge for mercy, saying, "I did not mean to cause harm to anybody," the Morning Journal reported, adding that the courtroom was filled with Horst's friends and family members. Horst's attorney stressed that Horst had no criminal record.
The Coss' daughter, Sharon Lendon of Sandy Township, told the Salem News, "I feel like justice has been served for my parents. They died needlessly. They were enjoying their life. They were very independent and that got taken away."
She called on motorists, especially young people, to consider the risks of killing someone due to driving while distracted by a smartphone.
A civil case alleging negligence filed by the Coss' estate and Lendon, the estate's administrator, is pending against Horst, his employer and his insurer.
Leslie Coss and Mary Ann Strouble had been married for 62 years. The Repository ran an article in 2010 about their 50th wedding anniversary.
Lendon told the Salem News that her mother Mary Coss went to Canton South High School and her father Leslie Coss went to Canton McKinley High School. They met while they were employees of an A&P grocery store.
Her mother would go on to work at Joann Fabrics, Schulman Drugs, Kaufmann's, Heggy's and J.C. Penney. Her father, who loved to hunt and fish, besides working at Timken also worked at Canton Oil and Gas and as a consultant.
The couple left behind two daughters, six grandchildren, two step-grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, according to the Coss' obituaries.
Reach Robert at robert.wang@cantonrep.com. X formerly Twitter: @rwangREP.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Lowell Horst sentenced in fatal crash that killed Mary Coss