Bagley
File photo | The Lima News
LIMA — Less than eight hours after rejecting a plea offer from prosecutors and asking for a new court-appointed attorney, a Lima woman on Friday pleaded guilty to reduced charges related to a drunk driving traffic accident that will land her in prison.
Anyah Bagley, 21, of Lima, entered guilty pleas in Allen County Common Pleas Court to amended counts of aggravated vehicular assault, fourth-degree felonies, and operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol or a drug of abuse, a first-degree misdemeanor, following a hastily-called hearing late Friday afternoon.
Attorneys in the case jointly recommended Bagley be sentenced to 12 months in prison on each of the felony charges, with those sentences to be served consecutively. Restitution was also ordered to the victims in the case. Allen County Common Pleas Court Judge Jeffrey Reed set sentencing for Nov. 25.
A plea offer had been placed on the table by prosecutors months ago but was scheduled to expire at the end of the day on Friday. Bagley was in court that morning and asked the judge to appoint a new attorney to represent her after Assistant Public Defender Steve Chamberlain admitted he had unintentionally misrepresented the potential sentence faced by the Lima woman.
Chief Public Defender Kenneth Sturgill was asked to represent Bagley and a suppression hearing, the reason for Friday’s initial court appearance, was rescheduled for Monday. That hearing became moot when Bagley later that day agreed to accept the plea deal that had been offered.
The charges against Bagley stemmed from a May 6 traffic accident near the intersection of state Route 81 and McKinley Street in Lima. According to a crash report authored by the Ohio State Highway Patrol, Bagley was driving a Dodge Journey eastbound on state Route 81 and made a left turn onto the wrong side of McKinley Street, striking head-on a motorcycle driven by Detetri Wooten, 48, of Lima.
The investigating officer reported he detected “a strong odor of alcohol” coming from Bagley and that the woman “showed signs of impairment.”
Wooten and a passenger were taken to local hospitals with what were reported at the time to be serious injuries.
