Recordpub.com - Man charged in death of Garrettsville officer Faces felonies for crash that killed Donovan Svab

Photo By by Steph KrellChristopher R. Jones walks out of the Portage County Courthouse in handcuffs after his arraignment Monday afternoon, July 14, 2008 in Ravenna, Ohio.

By Diane Smith
Record-Courier staff writer
A Kent man charged in the fatal collision that claimed the life of a Garrettsville police and Ohio Department of Natural Resources officer last year was in court Monday, charged with aggravated vehicular homicide.
Christopher R. Jones, 23, was the driver in a crash in August 2007. Donovan E. Svab, 37, of Mantua was killed in the crash.
Jones was served Monday with an indictment charging him with two felony counts of aggravated vehicular homicide, including a second degree felony charge with mandatory prison time if he is convicted and a third-degree felony. He also is facing two counts of operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol.
Svab was on his way home from his ODNR job when the crash occurred. He left behind a wife and three children.
Porage County Common Pleas Court Judge John Enlow set a bond of 10 percent of $100,000 for Jones. Jones was still in the Portage County jail as of Monday afternoon.
Portage County Prosecutor Victor Vigluicci requested a bond of $200,000 for Jones, saying his driving record makes him "a menace to the roadways of Portage County."
He said Jones has been convicted of a dozen speeding violations since 2003 and three crashes, the third of which claimed the life of Svab, "a father of three." Before that crash, he said, Jones' car was traveling at speeds ranging from 60 miles per hour to 95 miles per hour in a 35 mile per hour zone.
"For a 23-year-old, he has probably the worst driving record I've seen in my years," Vigluicci said.
Jones' attorney, William Lentz, said Jones has not been convicted of any serious crimes, and pointed out that his client has been recovering from injuries sustained in the crash for most of the time since the crash occurred.
"Without minimizing the impact this accident had on everyone, Chris did have serious injuries that required extensive treatment," he said. "This accident happened 11 months ago. If Chris wanted to run, he had ample opportunity to do so. Instead, he wanted to stay and answer these charges. He voluntarily turned himself in."
Trial is scheduled for 9 a.m. Sept. 16 with a pretrial conference on Sept. 8.

40.	Posted by sereneserendipity July 18, 2008
	All I'm saying is that it is a proven fact that seat belts save lives.... Oh and I do believe that Donovan was on his cell phone as well during the accident, interesting. Its easy to press the blame all on this man, take a look at both sides. What was Donovan's blood alcohol level, because cops don't get off at 3am normally, who's to say no one's covering up for him because he's a cop and putting all the blame on this innocent man.

38.	Posted by informed July 17, 2008
	southeast 1990 where did you get the information that this young man was driving with a suspended license. I double checked the portage county records and I cannot find where he was charged with driving without a license As far as I can tell he has always had at least driving privileges and I think the traffic court should explain this There are laws in place to suspend the license of repeat offenders but unfortunately this was never the case in the driving history of this young man and instead he was always given even limited driving privileges when maybe he shouldn't have been given any. Let the municipal court system do their job and ask the traffic court why they didn't do their job.

37.	Posted by skully67 July 17, 2008
	when I was younger in my early 20's I drank and drove a few times,, I regret it now, and thank god nothing ever happend to anyone,, I never did get pulled over or get caught. At the time when I did these dumb things, it was like I have no idea what I was thinking, but I know it never enterd my mind that someone would get killed. I am not saying he doesn't deserve to do his time for this, because he does. I just wish that when he and others get busted for things like this. the first time .that they would be made to go to an emergency room and watch crash victims coming in and see them die, that would really take the fun out of speeding or drinking and driving for anyone. I also think the picture of him in the paper is a good thing because it shows the truth about what happens when you drink and drive. It might be hard to look at if you know him, but the truth is someone is in a casket now, DEAD!I am sure that is much harder to look at!

36.	Posted by MyGirl42187 July 17, 2008
	I have read a few posts on here that I thought were just plain unreasonable and without intellegent thought. However the one by "sereneserendipity" has got to be the craziest thing I have ever read in my entire life. Saying "Charging this man will not change a thing" completely escapes logic for me. Intellegent and forward thinking individuals would understand that removing a menace like this will prevent him from ever doing it to another family. Come on!! If it was our policy as a society to not charge people for thier crimes then we will surely be living in a world of insanity and chaos. I guess if we catch a serial killer like Dhamer we sould just expose his actions and ask him politely not to do it again???? There must be accountability. The incident comes to my mind of those poor college kids in Hiram that were killed by the multiple dui offender. If the laws were stricter that would have never happened. That's sounds better than spewing that stupid seatbelt analogy. Congratulations "sereneserendipity" in saying that this good man died because he was not wearing a seat belt. You have succeeded in blaming the victim for the criminal acts of another. I bet you also believe rape victims get raped because they "deserved it" due to the way they dress. BRILLIANT!! You say: "We are not a country of an eye for an eye, so why take away someone's brother, son, and friend because you feel that you need justice." I say: Our society needs justice as much as it needs shelter, food, water or anything else. Without justice and accountablility there is no order. And without order and rule of law people would seek out revenge and make our country truly "eye for an eye". It would be anarchy. You would fear for your safety everyday. I truly get it. He may be a friend, family member or whatever. Fact is it hurts and I understand that he has made his loved ones a victim too, but he has to be held accountable. It's a terrible thing all around, but he is accountable to the People of the State of Ohio for his criminal actions. And in the unlikely event he is innocent than it will come to pass as such.

35.	Posted by southeast1990 July 17, 2008
	I am not "going by the article" with my information. Check out the court records and you will see that he was charged with OVI on 7-11-08. That means there is a test that proved positive for either drugs or alcohol. Not only has he had several speeding tickets, failure to control and also DRIVING WITH A SUSPENDED LICENSE in Portage County but also in surrounding counties. Obviously responsibility was not a word used in Jones' vocabulary. How dare you imply the victim would be alive today if only he had been wearing his seatbelt! If only Jones would not have gotten behind the wheel that night DRUNK Svab would CERTAINLY be alive today. Jones could be a wonderful person -but he still made the CHOICE TO DRIVE DRUNK AND COST THE LIFE OF AN INNOCENT HUMAN BEING. He deserves to be punished to the fullest extent of the law for his crime. All Jones had to do that night was to CHOOSE to make a phone call and get a ride - instead he CHOSE to get behind the wheel DRUNK.

34.	Posted by sereneserendipity July 17, 2008
	Charging this man will not change a thing. First off, it was a car ACCIDENT, which occured on a dark rainy night. There is no proff that he was drinking, you all just go off what the artical says, well please why doesn't someone tell me what his blood alcohol level was, oh no one here can because none of you know. We are not a country of an eye for an eye, so why take away someone's brother, son, and friend because you feel that you need justice. Lets not forget that Donovan WAS NOT WEARING A SEAT BELT! He'd probably be alive today if he did.

33.	Posted by s.swenson July 16, 2008
	Very well put DelClayman I couldn't agree with you more. Although I guess with the comments in the article about his speeding previously and the mention that he operated a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol we are all supposed to ignore that and presume him innocent. I can only imagine the jury will not allow some defense attorney to justify this mans actions. It will be evident when he goes to trial how the accusations will become and you can continue your grading papers routine and opine at that point. He will be doing some time in the big house, I'll wager that and the more the better!

32.	Posted by informed July 16, 2008
	I think that there have been a great deal of important questions asked in this discussion. One thing that has only been touched on is about how someone with this many violations had a legal license to drive. This young man according to the court records was never charged with driving without a valid license. So I think it may be time for all Portage county citizens to ask some hard questions of the Traffic judge and prosecutor. There are laws in place to protect the public from repeat driving offenders but for some reason they never felt the need to enforce them and instead plea bargained the offenses to lessor charges and allowed him to keep his driving priviledges. I'm not saying that it is their fault that this young man, if found guilty, made a horrible decision. But, I DO feel that there should be some very hard questions asked of the traffic court in Portage county since this now in the open. Maybe if some changes are made a tragedy like this one can be prevented in the future.