COLUMBUS, Ohio — A former Gahanna football player charged in a crash that left three people dead in 2019 was found not guilty on all counts, according to his attorney.
Kobie Stillwell, 23, was indicted on three counts of aggravated vehicular homicide and one count of vehicular assault following the deadly crash that happened at the intersection of Sunbury and Morse roads on Oct. 12, 2019.
The prosecutor’s office said Stillwell, who was 18 at the time, was driving an Audi A6 eastbound on Morse Road at an “extremely high rate of speed” when he crashed into a Toyota Camry that was headed westbound.
The jury had to decide whether or not a medical emergency constituted a defense to Stillwell's charges after the defense told jurors that Stillwell had suffered from epilepsy since he was 3 years old and argued that the crash was an accident.
According to the Columbus Dispatch, Stillwell testified in his own defense on Wednesday and said he had little memory of what happened to cause the crash.
Stillwell's attorney, Sam Shamansky, said the jury delivered the verdict after deliberating for 90 minutes.
The Toyota had a mother and two daughters inside. Kumari Biswakarma, 40, and her daughter, 24-year-old Anju Biswakarma, were pronounced dead at the scene. Another daughter who was in the backseat of the Toyota was treated for serious injuries.
JaShawn Scott, a 17-year-old Gahanna Lincoln High School student who was a passenger in the Audi, died days after the crash. Stillwell and another passenger in the Audi were treated for non-life-threatening injuries.