A Knoxville, Tenn., man will have to serve six months in jail, pay a fine and be prohibited from driving for four years for his role in a two-vehicle wreck last August that left two people dead and three others injured.
Matthew Gilman, 23, had pleaded no contest in Bellefontaine Municipal Court on two counts of vehicular homicide in a crash on U.S. 68, north of Township Road 30 last August.
Gilman’s passengers, Matthew B. Stewart, 19, of DeGraff and Megan R. Smith, 19, of West Liberty, died at the scene. Gilman was taken to Miami Valley Hospital.
According to the Logan County Sheriff’s Office, Gilman was driving north on 68 when he lost control of the vehicle near Oakhill Medical Center after he drove to the right of a vehicle that had stopped to make a turn into a business.
Gilman drove into a ditch, over-corrected, then crossed the center line and into the path of a southbound vehicle driven by Jarrad Parker, 36, of Marysville.
The sheriff’s office concluded that the speed of Gilman’s vehicle likely was a major factor in the accident.
Parker and passenger Steven Curtis, 36, of Sardinia, were taken to area hospitals.
Wednesday, the judge accepted Gilman’s plea but suspended one of the jail terms and credited him with time served. Gilman was fined $1,100, his driver’s license revoked for four years and he will be on probation for two years after he serves his jail time.
The court ordered Gilman to plant a tree to honor Smith and have a bench installed to honor Stewart, where ever the families of the victims decide.