The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Wickliffe man waives right to hearing
The case of a Wickliffe man charged in connection with a wrong-way crash on Interstate 90 in Kirtland Hills has been bound over to Lake County Common Pleas Court.
Willard Burge IV, 33, waived his right to a preliminary hearing July 12 in Willoughby Municipal Court.
Judge Marisa Cornachio, who sent the case to Common Pleas Court, also allowed Burge to remain free on the bond he posted June 25.
Burge originally had been scheduled for a preliminary hearing on July 11, but that was postponed a day so an Ohio Highway Patrol trooper investigating the June
24 crash could be present to testify.
Burge was arraigned June 25 on third-degree felony aggravated vehicular assault as well as two counts of misdemeanor OVI.
According to the OHP, the crash happened just before 3 a.m. on I-90.
A 2015 Toyota Rav 4 driven by Burge was traveling eastbound in the westbound lanes just east of Route 306 when it struck head-on a 2011 Chevrolet Impala traveling westbound.
Erin E. Stockdale, 32, of
Concord Township, was a passenger in the right front seat of the Rav 4, the news release from OHP stated. Burge was transported to TriPoint Medical Center in Concord Township with minor injuries. Both occupants were wearing their safety belts.
The Impala was driven by 56-year-old Samia A. Campagna of Alliance, Ohio, and she was transported to Hillcrest Hospital in Mayfield Heights with incapacitating injuries. Campagna was wearing her safety belt.
Along with issuing the bindover ruling on July 12, Cornachio granted two motions made by Burge’s defense attorney, Brandon Hen-
derson.
One was a request to immobilize and not permit release of the vehicle in which Burge and Stockdale were traveling at the time of the crash. The vehicle is currently being held at the impound lot of a Lake Countybased towing company.
The judge also approved a motion to permit analysis of the vehicle by expert witnesses. That motion was granted with the condition that Henderson notifies the Lake County Prosecutor’s Office of any expert witnesses that are retained. The defense also must inform prosecutors of any test results that are going to be presented at Burge’s trial.