Toledoan found guilty of vehicular homicide

11/2/2012

A central Toledo man charged in a fatal collision nearly a year ago in West Toledo pleaded no contest Friday to aggravated vehicular homicide and is to be sentenced Tuesday.

Miguel Hamilton, 35, of 1210 Peck St. also could face lifetime suspension of his driver’s license and be ordered to pay funeral expenses to the family of Joseph Bialecki, Lucas County Common Pleas Court Judge Frederick McDonald said after finding him guilty in the crash and on an unrelated evidence-tampering charge.

Mr. Bialecki, 31, of Toledo was westbound on Sylvania Avenue at 2:20 p.m. on Nov. 13 when a northbound vehicle on Detroit Avenue ran a red light and broadsided his car.

While that case was pending, Hamilton was arrested July 12 after his involvement in a fight; during his booking at the county jail in that case, officers found him trying to swallow a packet containing 2.93 grams of cocaine and 0.65 gram of heroin that had been hidden on his body.

Originally charged with cocaine possession, cocaine trafficking, heroin possession, illegal conveyance of drugs into a detention facility, and tampering with evidence, Hamilton pleaded no contest to the tampering charge, and the other counts were dismissed. Also to be dismissed under a plea agreement is a second, alternate count of aggravated vehicular homicide.

Judge McDonald said the agreement specifies a four-year term for the homicide count and one year for evidence tampering, but he will decide Tuesday whether the sentences will be consecutive or concurrent. Andy Lastra, an assistant Lucas County prosecutor, said Mr. Bialecki’s relatives plan to attend the sentencing and had consented to the plea deal.