FRANKLIN COUNTY, Ohio — A man who pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide in a crash that killed a killed a bicyclist, 58-year-old Kurtis Tunnell, in Aug. 2019 has been sentenced to probation.
According to Franklin County Common Pleas Court records, Vincent Depalma, of Dublin, was sentenced Thursday to four years probation and fined $5,000.
He must also serve four to six months in a program at a community-based correctional facility.
The Franklin County Sheriff's Office said the crash happened near the 8400 block of Scioto and Darby Creek Road.
The sheriff's office said Depalma was driving a Hyundai Santa Fe that was traveling west on Scioto and Darby Creek Road in the area of Walker Road when he hit Tunnell, who was also traveling west, from behind.
After being hit, Tunnell was taken to Riverside Methodist Hospital, where he died. Tunnell had been Chief Counsel for former Ohio Governor George V. Voinovich.
The sheriff's office says Depalma stopped at the scene, and was taken into custody under suspicion of DUI. He was charged with OVI but the charge was dropped when he entered a guilty plea to aggravated vehicular homicide.
Depalma's driver's license was also suspended for four years.
