Man pleads not guilty in fatal Milford Township crash
A man is facing charges of vehicular manslaughter after a June accident in Milford Township resulted in one person's death. Leodegario Cruz Ortiz, 22, pleaded not guilty to the charges at his arraignment Aug. 5.
Leodegario Cruz Ortiz, 22, pleaded not guilty to both charges of vehicular manslaughter at his arraignment at the Butler County Court of Common Pleas Aug. 5.
On June 8, Cruz Ortiz was driving south on U.S. 127 when he crossed the center line and struck the vehicle of Christopher Vanzant, a 40-year old from Fountain City, Indiana, head on, according to the Butler County area court docket. Medical personnel pronounced Vanzant dead at the scene.
The Butler County Grand Jury indicted Cruz Ortiz on two counts last week: felony of the first degree aggravated vehicular homicide, and felony of the third degree with the same charge. One of the two charges focuses on Cruz Ortiz's lack of a valid license.
Judge Greg Stephens set a bond of $250,000, but said there is no pretrial bond because of the language barrier. A Spanish translator assisted Cruz Ortiz during the arraignment.
According to the initial complaint, the sergeant noticed a strong odor of alcohol when he first interacted with Cruz Ortiz on the day of the crash. The indictment does not allege that Cruz Ortiz was driving under the influence of alcohol, and it did not come up during his arraignment.
A press release published by the Butler County Sheriff's Office in June claims that Cruz Ortiz had entered the U.S. illegally from Mexico and did not have a valid driver license.
The next court date is set for Aug. 19 to obtain discovery from the prosecutor and set a trial date. Attorney and public defender William Oswall received the case the morning of the arraignment and is representing Cruz Ortiz.
Oswall said after the arraignment that he couldn't comment because he only has the information from the prosecutor so far.
The judge will set the trial date at the next court appearance in two weeks.
