MOUNT VERNON — The man accused of causing a two-vehicle collision Aug. 1 that killed a Mount Vernon mother and injured three of her family members was indicted Monday on four felony counts related to the incident.
A Knox County grand jury indicted Vince G. Arthur, 36, of Rineyville, Kentucky, on one count of aggravated vehicular homicide (a second-degree felony) and three counts of aggravated vehicular assault (all third-degree felonies), according to court records.
Man charged in Knox County crash that killed mother, injured 3 family members (from Aug. 9)
Mount Vernon woman dead following two-vehicle Knox County crash (from Aug. 2)
The second-degree felony carries a penalty of two to eight years in prison. The third-degree felonies each carry a penalty of one to five years in prison.
The case is now bound over to the Knox County Court of Common Pleas. Arthur was initially charged Aug. 2 in Mount Vernon Municipal Court.
There is an arraignment scheduled for Wednesday at 1:30 p.m.
Arthur is accused of driving while intoxicated on the evening of Aug. 1 and crossing the center line on State Route 661, near Airport Road in Miller Township, causing a head-on collision with another vehicle heading the opposite direction.
There were four passengers in the other vehicle: Samantha O’Rourke, 31, the driver; Levi O’Rourke, 33, her husband, riding passenger; and two of their four children in the backseat. All four were wearing seatbelts, the Ohio State Highway Patrol reported.
Samantha did not survive the crash. She was pronounced dead at the scene by medical personnel, according to the OSHP. Levi and the two children were transported to Columbus-area hospitals with serious injuries.
Arthur sustained minor injuries and was transported from the scene to Knox Community Hospital. He was taken into custody and transported to the Knox County Jail later that night.
Arthur was charged the next day with four felony counts pertaining to the incident. The aggravated vehicular homicide charge pertains to the victim who died as a result of the crash, while the three vehicular assault charges pertain to the three victims who were injured as a result of the crash.
“The aggravating factor is the allegation that he was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash, and that was the proximate cause of death in the homicide and of serious physical injury in the assaults,” Knox County Prosecutor Chip McConville said.
If convicted, Arthur faces up to 23 years in prison on the current charges.
What is a grand jury – and what does an indictment mean?
Maureen O’Connor, chief justice for the Ohio Supreme Court, calls the grand jury “an essential part of the legal system.”
Here’s what grand juries do, according to the court’s website:
“In Ohio, a grand jury decides whether the state has good enough reason to bring felony charges against a person alleged to have committed a crime. Felonies are serious crimes — ranging from murder, rape, other sexual assaults, and kidnapping to drug offenses, robbery, larceny, financial crimes, arson, and many more.
“The grand jury is an accusatory body. It does not determine guilt or innocence. The grand jury’s duty is simply to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to make a person face criminal charges. The grand jury is designed to help the state proceed with a fair accusation against a person, while protecting that person from being charged when there is insufficient evidence.”
McConville once described the difference between a grand jury and a trial jury – and what they’re asked to determine – as follows:
“The grand jury will determine whether or not there is probable cause that a crime was committed and that person committed the crime, which is a different standard than ‘beyond a reasonable doubt,’ that the state has to prove in trial,” McConville said in 2019.
In Ohio, the grand jury is composed of nine people and up to five alternates.
“All jurors reside in the county and are randomly selected to serve, in the same way that trial — or petit — jurors are selected. The judge chooses a foreperson from the nine jurors,” the Ohio Supreme Court states on its website.
“A grand jury is part of Ohio’s common pleas court system, and the state relies on a grand jury to begin all felony cases.”
Grand jury hearings are conducted in private. They are run by the prosecutor, who may request a hearing after reviewing all evidence in a case and deciding felony charges may be appropriate.
“If the prosecutor wants to bring felony charges against the accused, the prosecutor must first present the case to the grand jury in order to move forward,” the Ohio Supreme Court’s website states.
“Although the prosecutor runs the grand jury proceedings, the grand jury is not to act as a rubber stamp to what it might believe the prosecutor wants.”
Unlike a trial jury, “the foreperson and any members of a grand jury may ask proper questions of any witness” during a hearing, the Ohio Supreme Court’s website states.
“After the prosecutor has presented each witness and explained the law to the grand jury, everyone except the nine grand jurors must leave the room. The foreperson then leads a discussion and conducts a vote on whether to charge the accused. No vote is taken until each juror has an opportunity to be heard.”
An indictment requires the vote of seven of the nine jurors.
“When a grand jury votes to charge the accused, by finding a true bill with the required seven of nine votes, it is also known as an indictment,” the Ohio Supreme Court’s website states. “An indictment is the grand jury’s formal written statement that a person is alleged to have committed a crime.”
If six or fewer jurors vote to charge the individual, there is no indictment and the case is dropped. The prosecutor can bring the case again later to another grand jury if there is new evidence.
Once a defendant is indicted, however, the felony trial process begins. There will be an arraignment, where the defendant will have the opportunity to enter a plea. If the case proceeds, discovery will be exchanged and a trial date will be set.
“The criminal charges against a defendant must then be proven beyond a reasonable doubt at trial before someone can be convicted,” the Ohio Supreme Court’s website states.
