A trial date has been set for Judith Ashley, the Middletown woman behind the wheel in a deadly train-church van crash last summer.
Ashley, 63, was the driver of a Church of Mayfield van on July 28, 2015, when it collided with a CSX train on 14th Avenue, killing 64-year-old Janice Martin and injuring nine children. A Butler County grand jury returned indictments in May against Ashley for endangering children and vehicular assault in addition to the aggravated vehicular homicide charge.
During a hearing Monday, Butler County Common Pleas Judge Noah Powers set Nov. 2 as the date Ashley's trial is scheduled to begin. She is out of jail on her own recognizance.
Ashley told two Middletown paramedics at the scene that she had been "taking Vicodin and Adderall all day," according to the Ohio Highway Patrol's initial crash report.
Jerry Bryant, Ashley’s attorney, said she had been prescribed a prescription for pain medication before the crash.
Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser said at Ashley’s arraignment that the vehicular homicide charge against Ashley rises to an aggravated or felony level due to questions of her sobriety at the time of the crash. He said she was also reckless because there was sufficient sight distance to see the train with lights flashing and gates down.
“My client was involved in an accident. It was not intentional,” Bryant previously told the Journal-News.
Bryant said the train has to stop before the crossing and an engineer gets out and presses a lever to activate the lights and alarms.
“They are required to wait 20 seconds. We do not think they did,” Bryant said, adding the railroad also failed to keep the area free of brush.
Ashley and Martin had been picking up children for an evening vacation Bible school at the church when the crash occurred.
Martin, of Middletown, died from blunt force trauma to the chest after being transported to Atrium Medical Center.
The nine children in the van, ages 4-10, were treated and released from Atrium Medical Center and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, according to the church.
Ashley, who is the wife of church pastor Rev. Gary Ashley, suffered substantial injuries in the crash.