Jack Richards
Jack Richards, the 22-year-old Amelia man who struck and killed trustee-elect Jim Bushman Nov. 21, 2011, pleaded no contest to aggravated vehicular homicide and vehicular assault charges March 13.

Richards was scheduled to begin a jury trial March 30, however, Clermont County Prosecutor Don White said the trial was vacated upon his plea at the pre-trial hearing March 13.

“He was found guilty of the charges after Judge Hogan spoke with him and heard a letter from the assistant prosecutor,” White said.

Richards was charged with aggravated vehicular homicide and vehicular assault charges after the Nov. 21 accident that occurred on state Route 132 near Judd Road in Batavia Township.

Richards was driving a Chevrolet pickup truck north on SR 132 and attempted to pass Jarrod Brewster, of Cincinnati, who was driving a van north. Richards struck the left side of Brewster’s van and went off the left side of the road.

As he went off the road, he struck Jim Bushman, who was walking his garbage can to the end of the driveway at the time. Richards came to a stop when he struck a tree.

Richards, Brewster and Richards’ two passengers Patricia Kearney, 19, of Amelia, and Joshua Masterson, 20, of Cincinnati were all taken to the hospital. Brewster, Kearney and Masterson were treated and released the same day, while Richards remained in the hospital for multiple days.

Bushman, who had recently been elected trustee of Batavia Township, was killed as a result of the accident.

Kevin Miles, assistant prosecuting attorney, said the case took longer than expected because they were waiting for testing results to come back from the lab.

“We thought there would be something with the blood, but it just never materialized,” Miles said.

He said the results showed that that Richards had used marijuana recently, but the levels were not strong enough to prove the drug had an effect on his driving.

“The guy had marijuana in his system, no doubt, but the best you can say is he used it in the past 30 days,” Miles said.

Miles said Richards pleaded no contest to the charges under the condition of reckless driving.

The aggravated vehicular homicide charge involved Jim Bushman, and the vehicular assault charges involved Brewster, Kearney and Masterson, who were all injured in the accident.

Miles said Richards likely pleaded no contest, as opposed to guilty, because of civil liabilities that could come from future civil suits.

Richards is scheduled for sentencing at 1 p.m. April 23 in front of Judge Timothy Hogan, the visiting judge. White said the maximum sentence Richards’ charges in nine and a half years.