MANSFIELD — Josh Boggs had a difficult time Thursday, seeking to find words to describe his feelings in the wake of a court decision three day earlier.
Matthew McBride Jr., 25, of New London, pleaded no contest on Monday and was found guilty of causing the horrific 2019 crash that led to the deaths of Boggs’ wife and three of his children, one of them unborn.
McBride, represented by defense attorney Robert Whitney, faces up to 27 1/2 years in prison when Richland County Common Pleas Court Judge Brent Robinson sentences him Oct. 9.
Boggs, who didn’t attend the court event Monday, is trying to grasp all of the legal proceedings. He admits he is still gathering facts related to the case and the court hearing.
“There’s a system. I understand that and I have to be mindful of that. Otherwise I am just angry and my emotions are a lot different than that. I don’t know what to call them.
“It’s like trying to describe a color you have never seen. It’s a whole lot swirled into one. There are still so many things that have to happen,” he said.
McBride was not in the courtroom Monday. His attendance came via live video from the county jail.
“There wasn’t a need for me to be there. It was just a change of plea hearing,” Boggs said. “I’ll see him, hopefully in person, during sentencing.”‘
PRAYER FOR WISDOM: Boggs, who has spoken of great faith in God during the ordeal, said he hopes to speak to the court before McBridge is sentenced. But he has no plans to request a specific prison sentence.
“I don’t think I would be that direct. All I can really do is paint a picture of what happened that day and let it fall into place. My prayers are for wisdom and hope things are done right,” Boggs said.
McBride, indicted in January by a county grand jury on 27 counts, pleaded no contest to four counts of aggravated vehicular homicide (third-degree felonies) and five counts of vehicular assault (fourth-degree felonies). Other charges were dismissed.
The accident occurred after a Sunday church service on May 5, 2019, at 1:26 p.m. when the Boggs family was westbound in a minivan on Ohio 96. A Ford F-350 pickup truck, driven northbound by McBride on Ganges-Five Points, blew through a stop sign and slammed into the van, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
Prosecutors dismissed allegations McBride was under the influence at the time of the crash, which would have made aggravated vehicular homicide charges second-degree felonies and likely resulted in additional prison time.
Boggs, who called dropping the impairment charges “catastrophic,” said the changes came because McBride’s urine screen was done four hours after the crash, one hour outside what could be entered as reliable evidence in court.
The no-contest plea cannot be used against McBride in any civil litigation that may arise from the crash. Boggs, however, would like to hear him admit his role in the crash that forever changed his family’s life.
“I’d love for him to just say, ‘This is what happened.’ Do I think that will ever happen? No,” Boggs said, admitting he didn’t know the legal “chess match” that has been ongoing between Whitney and the prosecutor’s office.
“(McBride) has really been given grace. If the drug charges had stuck, (prison time) would have been substantially more. I hope he realizes this. Ultimately, at the end of the day, he will get to go back to his family, even if he serves 27 1/2 years,” Boggs said.
“Like I have said since the beginning, I want good to come out of this,” said Boggs, who successfully lobbied for “rumble strips” at the intersection to improve safety. “We want people to have grace. But many people don’t understand what that means. It’s not just, ‘I forgive you’ and walk away.Â
“I could just be hateful and throw stones, but that doesn’t bring my family back,” said Boggs, whose wife, Stacey, died on June 5 from head injuries sustained in the crash. “Our society has to really see this as an opportunity to learn. Not just for him, but for people close to him and others.
“How do we do this in a way where everybody learns from it? But you can’t just slap (McBride’s) wrist either, because no one will take it seriously and we will continue to have situations like this.
“We know he was loaded. It’s probably not the first time. There are probably those around him who are a part of that lifestyle. And that’s where this lifestyle got him. Hopefully, people say, “Hey, we need to change the way we do things.’ How do we get the entire community to stand up and say they will not allow this anymore?
“What makes this situation so unique is it truly could have been anybody (killed). This was not out in the middle of the night. This was the middle of the day. It was ideal (driving) conditions. There was no ice. There was no snow. There was no sleet. There was no loose gravel. There was no evidence he tried to slow down. No skid marks of any kind. It was just a blatant running of a stop sign,” Boggs said.
“Does he understand what happened? Is he remorseful? I don’t know. Is he going to appear remorseful? Sure, because he doesn’t want to be sentenced to 27 1/2 years. The future of a lot of things pivot on that (sentencing) day,” Boggs said.
OUT ON BOND: On Monday, Robinson reduced McBride’s bond, which allowed him to leave the jail prior to sentencing in October. Boggs said he hopes McBride, who has children of his own, uses the time wisely.
“I don’t know if his kids will have an opportunity to see him again for awhile. So the decision is not based on him. It’s about everybody else. What’s he going to do? He has three kids. Does he have a right to see his kids? That’s a good question. Do his kids have a right to see him? Yes. I hope the makes the most of his time,” Boggs said.
Asked if he would welcome an opportunity to sit down and talk with McBride, Boggs was non-committal.
“I think it would depend on how it went. I don’t know what type of person he is. I think he has made some poor decisions. I don’t know if it’s the result of how he was brought up or the people he is around. But it got him to the point he did something illegal (and people died) as a result.
“As a Christian, I want to give someone the opportunity to do the right thing,” Boggs said, adding he hopes McBride is physically in the courtroom during sentencing.
“It’s one thing for him not to get all the (prison) time he deserved. It’s another thing to not have to go through the emotional part, facing the family that he destroyed,” Boggs said.
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