Drunken driver to serve at least nine years for 2024 fatal crash that killed Elyria woman

ELYRIA — Joshua Thompson will spend at least nine years in prison for killing Sherry Taylor in an alcohol-fueled traffic crash last summer, a Lorain County Common Pleas judge ruled Thursday. Members of the Taylor family asked for the maximum sentence allowed by law and Judge Donna Freeman obliged. She sentenced Thompson to eight to 12 years in prison for killing Taylor, 50, at the intersection of North Abbe Road and state Route 57 in Elyria on July 7. Freeman gave Thompson, 42, one additional year consecutive to that for injuring his best friend and passenger Brent Wise in the crash. Thompson is not eligible for early release, and could serve up to 13 years behind bars if he misbehaves while in prison. Freeman suspended Thompson's driver's license for life, ordered him to make restitution of $4,573 to cover the cost of Taylor's funeral and ordered him to pay $2,500 in fines. Everyone should be able to feel safe on public roads without the fear of being hurt or killed by a drunken driver, Freeman said. For the number of times Thompson's drinking has gotten him in trouble in the past, "the concern this court has is that it seems like you go to treatment when you pick up a charge or when you're ordered to go to treatment, when you have to, when you don't have a choice," she told him. Taylor didn't choose to die that night, but Thompson "chose to get behind the wheel of a car and drive when you were extremely intoxicated, again. I fear that all the treatment you've had, you're not taking it seriously," Freeman said. Thompson tearfully apologized for how his actions "affected everyone in this room." "I want everyone to know how sorry I really am," he said, for killing Taylor. "If I could trade places I would, right now, no doubt ... That night is gonna haunt me for the rest of my life." Thompson said he was devastated he took Taylor away from her family. "I accept all responsibilities for that, and all that comes with it. And I hope that one day the Taylor family will forgive me. I'm deeply sorry, there's nothing I can do to change the facts. I just want them to know that I am sorry," he said. "I'm not a monster. I messed up. And unfortunately you guys had to pay for it. I'm sorry," Thompson said. Thompson pleaded guilty in March to aggravated vehicular homicide, aggravated vehicular assault and vehicular assault, all felonies, and misdemeanor DUI in the fatal crash. In another case, Thompson pleaded guilty to having weapons under disability and illegal conveyance or possession of a deadly weapon or dangerous ordnance in a school safety zone, both felonies, and driving under suspension, a misdemeanor.A Lorain County Sheriff's deputy stopped Thompson for speeding near Midview Elementary School in Eaton Township on Jan. 10. There was a gun inside the car, which Thompson isn't allowed to have because he's a convicted felon. Freeman gave Thompson another two years in concurrent prison time for illegally possessing the firearm. Thompson and his attorney, Kenneth Lieux, said he had the gun for protection because he had gotten threats after Taylor's death. Someone from the Taylor family scoffed out loud when that claim was repeated in court Thursday. Even as he publicly forgave Thompson for killing his mother, Joseph Carter begged Freeman "with every single fiber of what is left of my being to please sentence (Thompson) to the maximum time allowed with no time reduced." Carter said he had just adjusted to having custody of his nieces and nephew after his sister Nyesha's death in January 2024 and begun to find a "piece of normalcy" when his mother was killed. He called it "impossible" to explain the impact Thompson's choices had on his family Taylor would "give her last" to help family or friends and "she was my angel," Carter said. Taylor's younger sister Penny Opdyke called Thompson's decision to drive drunk "selfish." His actions left four siblings without a sister, three children without a mother and four grandchildren without a grandmother, she said. Thompson stole the life from a woman "full of life" who loved to dance, played the lottery and won at bingo "a lot" but who was "never stingy" with her winnings, Opdyke said. Taylor was "a real person, not a statistic," said Opdyke, who had called her older sister for a ride home from work the night she died and was left in a deep depression with severe survivor's guilt as a result. Thompson showed "no remorse or regret for killing my sister" Opdyke said. "It's time to learn to think of others, like your family, your children and other innocent drivers," she told Thompson. "Forgiveness may come later, now it's time for justice." Not everyone who was physically harmed that night blamed Thompson: Wise told Freeman he didn't think he was a victim of his best friend's actions. "I'm fine. His (Thompson's) son is not fine, his daughter is not fine, his family is not fine," Wise said. "If there was anything I could do to go back in time and stop it all I would. But I can only be responsible for me, and I want to express remorse for that night, and I just want you to know that I don't feel like a victim in this." Freeman disagreed: "Sir, you are a victim," she told him, after giving Thompson an extra year in prison for injuring Wise. Thompson's criminal record includes a 2008 conviction for felonious assault; DUI arrests in 2023 and 2011 in which he pleaded guilty to reduced charges; and a DUI arrest as a juvenile. Chief Assistant Lorain County Prosecutor Chris Pierre said Thompson had a blood-alcohol content of 0.256, or more than three times the legal limit, after the fatal crash. Elyria police found opened and unopened beer cans scattered around the scene, he said. Thompson's first words to Elyria police weren't concerns for Wise or Taylor, but rather "'I'm going to f***ing jail,'" Pierre said. Defense attorney Kenneth Lieux called the case "tragic all around" and a "senseless taking of human life" by a man who had a history of alcohol abuse and has since sought addiction treatment. "Certainly Josh didn't set out to hurt anybody when he drove drunk," Lieux said. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.