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LISBON -- A Negley man whose case was sent back to Columbiana County for resentencing received the same punishment again for a 2021 fatal crash which ended the life of 15-year-old Angelica Rae Perkins.
Corey M.S. Evans, 21, state Route 154, appeared Monday before Judge Megan Bickerton in Common Pleas Court, a little over a year since the first time he faced her.
Just as she did last year, Bickerton sentenced him to an indefinite term of eight to 12 years for the aggravated vehicular homicide, a second-degree felony, and 180 days for operating a vehicle while under the influence of a listed controlled substance or a listed metabolite of a controlled substance, a misdemeanor. The sentence for a second OVI was folded into the term for the first one. His driver's license was suspended for life.
Evans had been speeding, driving without a license and abusing substances, including methamphetamine, alcohol and marijuana according to an appellate court document, when he wrecked his vehicle and killed his passenger on Feb. 25, 2021. He entered a guilty plea in April 2022 to the charges against him, with an additional count of aggravated vehicular homicide dismissed.
After his sentencing in July 2022, he filed an appeal of his sentence to the Seventh District Court of Appeals in August 2022.
The appellate court recently confirmed his conviction, but found merit with one error argued by the defense, reversing the sentence and remanding the case back to Bickerton.
Evans claimed he wasn't given appropriate notice about his indefinite term of eight to 12 years, with the court failing to notify him of what he could be facing if the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections makes certain determinations about his conduct while in prison, his rehabilitation, his threat to society, his restrictive housing if any and his security classification. The department could decide to keep him longer than the minimum term of eight years in this case and keep him up to 12 years.
The state conceded to the error. The appellate court found no merit with the other claims of error.
Once again, Bickerton ordered the term from this case to be served consecutively with a separate case of 12 months for improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle and 180 days for domestic violence. Those terms were to be served at the same time, but consecutive to the aggravated vehicular homicide.
The weapons charge and domestic violence charge stemmed from a May 25, 2021 incident when Evans attempted to cause harm to his brother and had a loaded firearm in the vehicle.
In total, he was to serve at least nine years, with the possibility of 13 years, but at the time of his first sentence, he received credit for 290 days already served in the county jail in one case and 54 days credit for the other case.
Evans still has a third case pending in Common Pleas Court for illegal conveyance of drugs of abuse onto the grounds of a specified governmental facility, a third-degree felony, and aggravated possession of drugs, a fifth-degree felony. Both charges stem from May 31, 2022 when he allegedly possessed methamphetamine while incarcerated at the county jail.
A status hearing is set for Friday, with a jury trial set for Aug. 8.