LORAIN — A Lorain Municipal Court judge Friday rejected a proposed plea deal that would have spared the man accused of opening the door of a vehicle involved in a fatal crash to videorecord the two teens inside any jail time.
Paul Pelton leaves Lorain Municipal Court on Friday after Judge Thomas Elwell declined to accept a plea deal. BRUCE BISHOP/CHRONICLE
Judge Thomas Elwell refused to allow Paul Pelton to enter no contest pleas to vehicle trespass and a reduced charge of attempted intimidation, even though the families of the teens involved in the crash, the prosecutor and the police all were on board.
The deal called for him to do 25 hours of community service and pay a $200 fine.
His attorney, R.J. Budway, said he was disappointed with Elwell’s decision, noting that five family members of the teen who died, Cameron Friend, were in the prosecutor’s office for the discussions and all were ready to move on.
He also noted that with the exception of a single charge — contempt of court — it is almost unheard of for a fourth-degree misdemeanor to be punishable with jail time.
Elwell, however, wasn’t swayed.
“I have a job to do, you have a job to do and that’s my feeling on the case,” Elwell said.
After the hearing, Pelton declined to comment beyond saying he was confused by the judge’s decision.
Budway, meanwhile, said he believes Lorain police went overboard in its pursuit of charges against his client and he doesn’t understand why a plea deal that was accepted by the department wasn’t honored.
“We wanted this concluded today,” Budway said. “We don’t want the passenger or driver’s family to have to come in here and go through this.”
Lorain Detective Buddy Sivert also said he agreed with the plea deal and he echoed Budway’s sentiments that all sides thought it would have been best to close the case and let everyone move on.
“The families were OK with what had been worked out between the prosecutor and defense attorney and I was OK with it,” he said. “The judge just had stronger feelings about it.”
Elwell didn’t return a call seeking comment on his rejection of the plea deal and his secretary said the judge wasn’t able to discuss the case.
Pelton was charged with vehicular trespass after police say he entered a car to film the aftermath of a crash involving Lorain teens Zachary Goodin and Friend. Goodin recently was charged with aggravated vehicular homicide. Police said Goodin was driving the vehicle, which went airborne and killed Friend, whom he had known since grade school.
Pelton later was charged with bribery and intimidation because police said he went Goodin’s home and trying to persuade the teen to tell police he had permission to enter the vehicle. Pelton also was accused of telling Goodin that he would testify on the teen’s behalf and say police actions had contributed to the injuries that led to Friend’s death.
Those charges are felonies, and a preliminary hearing on those charges was scheduled for 1 p.m. Dec. 8. The original vehicular trespass charge, a misdemeanor, now has a trial date of 8:30 a.m. Jan. 26 before Elwell.
Friday’s hearing was the second in which Elwell rejected Pelton’s plea deal. Last week, Elwell refused to accept the plea deal because Friend’s family hadn’t been consulted and his family members were not present in court to have their say.
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