Lorain man’s deadly crash case ordered back to lower court

A Lorain man who pleaded no contest on a vehicular homicide case will have the case retried in Lorain County Common Pleas Court.

A Sept. 4 decision from the Ninth District Court of Appeals said Juan Palacios, 37, will have his case reheard by a local judge after he pleaded no contest to charges while believing something that was not true.

Palacios was sentenced to four years in prison Dec. 6, 2016, on two counts of vehicular homicide and two counts of driving under the influence for the May 20, 2012, crash that caused the death of Linda J. Latorre, 31, of Lorain, court records show.

Palacios was driving a 2006 Chevrolet 1500 pickup when he exited the northbound lane of state Route 57 to westbound on Interstate 90 and went off the side of the road where he hit a tree.

Paramedics transported Palacios and Latorre to MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland.

Latorre died from her injuries.

Palacios had appealed Common Pleas Judge James L. Miraldi’s denied a motion to have blood alcohol test results suppressed.

In the denied motion, Palacios’ attorney Jack Bradley claimed his client “was unconstitutionally coerced” to give a blood sample and it was not tested in accordance with Ohio procedures.

Bradley cited a host of problems with the handling and testing of Palacios’ blood.

The results are inadmissable because the sample was not taken within three hours of the time of the alleged violation, Bradley said.

The appellate court wrote that because Palacios had pleaded not guilty, he would have “forfeited this argument.”

The judges also found that Palacios made the plea under his and the court’s belief that he would be able to appeal the denied motion to suppress.

This is incorrect due to a defendant’s appellate rights being limited by a no contest plea, the appellate court ruled.

The court cited case law to illustrate that a plea made in a criminal case must be made “knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily,” or else it is deemed unconstitutional, both under the U.S. Constitution and the Ohio Constitution.

As such, the court reversed Miraldi’s judgment and remanded the case back to his court for “further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”

The case is set for pretrial Oct. 5, before Miraldi.