TO:   LOCAL NEWS MEDIA  

FROM:   VAN WERT COUNTY COMMON PLEAS COURT  

DATE:     Wednesday, January 02, 2008 

Re:   Criminal Hearings

Luke I. Reinhart, 28, Van Wert, Ohio was sentenced to eight years in prison, two four year sentences to run consecutively on two counts of Aggravated Vehicular Homicide felonies of the third degree.

The charges were in connection of a Labor Day 2005 accident that took place at the intersection of Dull Robinson and the Wren-Landeck Road which resulted in the deaths of Kristian and Jade Amweg of Ohio City, Ohio.

Reinhart had been convicted in May 2006 in a jury trial held in Common Pleas Court, but the conviction had been overturned by the Third District Court of Appeals and remanded for a new trial.

Assistant Prosecuting Attorney reminded Judge Steele that the victims family had previously voiced their feelings concerning sentencing and asked that the Judge give that consideration and that they asked that Mr. Reinhart be given the maximum drivers license suspension allowed by law.

Judge Steele found that Mr. Reinhart was not amenable to community control and prison was consistent as part of the penalty.   Judge Steele suspended Mr. Reinhart’s license for life, gave him credit for 438 days of which 411 had already been served in prison on the original indictment.    Reinhart was remanded into immediate custody for transportation to Ohio Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.