DAYTON — He was accused of driving drunk and causing a crash that killed four people at Dayton’s airport.
A judge convicted him of those crimes after he changed his plea just a week before his trial was supposed to start.
News Center 7’s John Bedell has followed this story for years. On Monday, he went to the courthouse to get new insight into the punishment the suspect could face at sentencing.
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Clayton Hughes was in court last month, as he was getting ready for a two-week trial. That trial was supposed to start next week on August 17. But now it’s not happening.
Hughes signed plea deal forms, and they were filed in online court records on Monday morning.
He pleaded no contest to all the charges against him, including aggravated vehicular homicide and OVI.
A no-contest plea means Hughes did not admit his guilt but acknowledged there was enough evidence to convict him at a trial.
After the judge accepted Hughes’ pleas, she found him guilty of the crimes. He is facing the prospect of decades in prison when he’s sentenced next month.
Before the conviction, just last month the judge had said this when she denied a request from Hughes’ defense team to postpone the trial. “This has been a long process for everyone, and I’d really like to go forward so everyone can begin the healing process.”
Hughes was drunk when he rear-ended a pickup truck on Interstate 70 but kept going. That driver followed Hughes as he exited I-70 onto Airport Access Road.
Prosecutors said Hughes reached speeds of nearly 90mph at one point and was speeding when he t-boned a van at an intersection on Dayton airport property.
The crash killed four men inside the van and injured a fifth person in the vehicle.
The victims were all working for Enterprise, and on the clock for the car rental company on airport grounds when the crash happened.
Now that the court has cancelled Hughes’ trial, his sentencing is set for September 8.
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