The five-day jury trial for David O’Neill, 65, of Rossford, is set to begin April 19 following a motion
from the defendant heard by Wood County Common Pleas Court Judge Alan Mayberry on Tuesday.
O’Neill was previously convicted of killing a Perrys-burg doctor and critically injuring another in a
crash in 2006. Last year the Sixth District Court of Appeals in a unanimous decision overturned three of
four criminal charges against him.
On Tuesday, Mayberry also vacated the previously scheduled trial dates.
O’Neill is currently serving a four-year sentence for failure to stop in relation to this incident which
occurred on Ohio 65 near Perrysburg, when his vehicle struck the two bicyclists. The accident killed Dr.
Stephen Snedden who was 47, and injured Dr. George Haig, then of Perrysburg.
O’Neill is facing charges of aggravated vehicular homicide, aggravated vehicular assault, and drunk
driving, the charges he was previously convicted of, but which were overturned by the appellate court.
That court found that state guidelines weren’t followed when O’Neill’s blood was drawn for alcohol
testing at St. Luke’s Hospital in Maumee following the fatal crash. The appellate judges agreed the
blood alcohol evidence should have been suppressed by Mayberry.
Due to the inadmissibility of the blood alcohol, the other charges were thus not applicable, according to
the appeals court. Prior to his conviction O’Neill had entered no contest pleas to all the charges.
O’Neill had been sentenced to a total of 12 years in prison on the four charges.
According to court records, Mayberry also set a pre-trial hearing for Jan. 15 at 2 p.m., and noted
"no further trial continuances will be granted."
