Driver in fatal church van, train crash competent to stand trial

Trial date set for driver in fatal Middletown crash.

A request for a competency hearing has been withdrawn by the attorneys representing a Middletown woman who was behind the wheel in a deadly train and church van crash in 2015.

Judith Ashley, 64, was the driver of a Church of Mayfield van on July 28, 2015, when it collided with a CSX train on 14th Avenue, killing 64-year-old Janice Martin and injuring nine children.

Her trial on charges of aggravated vehicular homicide, endangering children and vehicular assault is scheduled to begin March 20 in Butler County Common Pleas Court.

In October, defense attorneys Frank Schiavone III and Frank Schiavone IV filed a motion to determine Ashley's competency, but they withdrew that motion Monday after reviewing a forensic report prepared at the request of the court.

“She’s competent,” Schiavone III said Monday when asked why the motion was withdrawn.

Ashley told two Middletown paramedics at the crash scene that she had been "taking Vicodin and Adderall all day," according to the Ohio Highway Patrol's initial crash report.

“The defendant … requests that this court order the appropriate experts to examine and investigate all issues regarding the defendant’s mental competency,” Schiavone IV wrote in the motion. “Defendant requests (the) examination should include an explanation of the affect on the defendant of any prescription drugs taken by the defendant at the time alleged in the indictment …. as well as the affects upon the defendant regarding the affects of the combination of the prescription drugs taken by defendant at the time of the alleged offense.”

The motion came on the heels of the Bradley Young trial in which the mother of the child Young was convicted of killing took the stand under the influence of prescription drugs.

After questioning by the judge, the jury in that case was ordered not to consider the three hours of testimony from the child’s mother, Rebekah Kinner.

The Schiavones represented Young and questioned Kinner's competency.

Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser said at Ashley’s arraignment that the vehicular homicide charge against the woman rises to an aggravated or felony level due to questions of her sobriety at the time of the crash. He said she was also reckless because there was sufficient sight distance to see the train with lights flashing and gates down.

Ashley and Martin had been picking up children for an evening vacation Bible school at the church when the crash occurred.

Martin, of Middletown, died from blunt force trauma to the chest.

The nine children in the van, ages 4-10, were treated and released from Atrium Medical Center and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, according to the church.

Ashley, who is the wife of church pastor Rev. Gary Ashley, suffered multiple injuries in the crash.

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