(MARION, Ohio) — A Marion County Common Pleas judge and his wife have been found guilty of multiple felony charges stemming from a June 2020 hit-and-run that injured a 19-year-old man, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced today.
‘It’s almost a cliché – the coverup is worse than the crime. Here, the most serious crimes were what happened after the crash – and a sitting judge should have known better,” Yost said. “This case shows that even the most powerful people are not above the law. I’m proud of the assistant attorneys general who prosecuted this case to a verdict, Maggie Tomaro and Christian Stickan.”
Judge Jason Warner was found guilty of complicity to leaving the scene of an accident, a felony of the fourth degree, and complicity to tampering with evidence, a felony of the third degree.
Julia Warner, his wife and the driver of the vehicle, was found guilty of two counts of misdemeanor negligent assault, complicity to leaving the scene of an accident and complicity to tampering with evidence.
Under Ohio Revised Code Section 2961.01, as a convicted felon, Jason Warner will not be eligible to serve as a judge.
The Warners are set to be sentenced on April 14 at 10:30 a.m.
The crash was investigated by the Ohio State Highway Patrol and the Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation. The Special Prosecutions Section of the Attorney General’s Office prosecuted the case.