NEWARK, Ohio (WCMH) – The fate of a semi truck driver charged in a fatal 2023 crash on Interstate 70 is now in the hands of a Licking County judge.
Jacob McDonald, 61, of Zanesville, is facing 26 charges, including six third-degree felony counts of aggravated vehicular homicide, nine fourth-degree felony counts of vehicular assault and 11 first-degree misdemeanor counts of assault.
Attorneys wrapped up their cases on Thursday in Licking County Common Pleas Court. Judge David Branstool said he is expecting to give his verdict early next week, likely on Monday or Tuesday. McDonald, who has been in jail on a $1 million bond since he was arrested in July 2024, is facing over 30 years in prison.
The trial stems from a bus crash that occurred on Nov. 14, 2023, when McDonald was driving a semi truck that collided with a charter bus carrying students and chaperones from Tuscarawas Valley Middle-High School in eastern Ohio. Six people connected to the school, including three high school students, died.
What happened during the trial?
Attorneys presented their arguments over the course of Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Chief Felony Prosecutor Clifford Murphy represented the state and attorney Chris Brigdon defended McDonald.
The state called a total of 18 witnesses, including those on the bus at the time of the crash, first responders and a car crash reconstruction expert. The defense called just two witnesses: an engineer who works on collision reconstructions and a digital forensic analyst.
Throughout testimony, Murphy conveyed there were no adverse weather conditions the day of the crash that could have impacted McDonald's driving. The prosecution also pointed out AT&T records show McDonald’s cellphone was using data just before the crash, implying he could have been distracted by it.
Brigdon repeatedly argued that actions such as automatic updates or streaming audio books are flagged as data usage, and AT&T cannot determine whether the device was being actively manipulated.
The prosecution emphasized that evidence suggests that McDonald did not hit his brakes during the crash – a claim that the defense did not deny. However, one witness for the defense discussed perceived response time, stating it can take a second or so for someone to perceive and react to a threat.
Brigdon stated it is not uncommon for motorists to look out their window to check out another vehicle or something happening outside while driving, and claimed taking your eyes off the road momentarily is negligent but not reckless.
A large part of the defense’s argument rested on the fact that two individuals who were on the charter bus at the time of the crash testified that it braked aggressively, which may have affected the amount of time McDonald had to stop.
Testimony from the prosecution’s crash reconstruction expert conflicted with this statement. The witness claimed data from the charter bus’s Electronic Logging Device did not show any hard braking events on the day of the crash.
What happened in the crash?
On Nov. 14, 2023, a charter bus carrying 54 people connected to the Tuscarawas Valley Middle-High School band was traveling westbound on I-70 toward Columbus for a performance at the Ohio School Boards Association conference. The collision occurred at about 8:50 a.m., when McDonald, driving a 2019 Freightliner semi, failed to decelerate as traffic slowed for a crash further down the highway.
McDonald struck an SUV in front of him, occupied by a teacher and two parent chaperones, before driving over it and crashing into the rear of the charter bus. The impact sent the bus into another SUV and a commercial truck, totaling five cars involved in the crash, according to a report by the National Transportation Safety Board. The semi caught fire, with the flames spreading to the rear of the charter bus. Eighteen people were injured in the incident, and six died.
Pronounced dead at the scene from the bus were students John Mosley, 18, of Mineral City; Jeffery Worrell, 18, of Bolivar; and Katelyn Owens, 15, of Mineral City. Occupants of the SUV that was driving in front of the semi — Dave Kennat, 56, of Navarre; Kristy Gaynor, 39, of Zoar; and Shannon Wigfield, 45, of Bolivar — were also pronounced dead. Kennat was a teacher, and Gaynor and Wigfield were parents serving as chaperones.
Officials tested McDonald after the crash and determined he was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, according to the NTSB. Information from the semi collected by the NTSB showed the truck was traveling at 74.7 mph about one minute prior to the crash. The speed limit where the crash occurred was 70.
A report by the Ohio Department of Public Safety claimed McDonald was trailing too closely in traffic and failed to slow down. In an interview with the Ohio State Highway Patrol, McDonald told investigators that he did not remember the moments leading to the crash.
Data usage from McDonald’s phone showed a peak usage of 39.8 megabytes per minute roughly 10 minutes before the crash, according to the NTSB investigation. The report compares this to someone streaming high-definition videos, which uses 41.7 megabytes per minute. It is unclear if this means he was actively manipulating his phone. Data usage from his phone at the time of the crash could not be retrieved because it was destroyed in the collision.
The NTSB report revealed McDonald had nine prior traffic violations from 2003 to 2022, for offenses such as speeding or following too closely. In one incident in March 2022, he was pulled over in Indiana while driving 75 mph in a 60 mph zone. The law enforcement officer who pulled him over said at the time that McDonald’s phone was open to a video game, but he was unable to prove McDonald had been using the game while driving.
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