The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

January 29, 2010

UPDATE: Man changes guilty plea to no contest

By Patrick Cooley

BROOKFIELD — A 19-year-old Masury man charged last January with vehicular manslaughter changed his plea from not guilty to no contest on Thursday.

On Jan. 18, 2009, Joshua Thompson, of 8196 Erie St., lost control of his car while driving on a wet curve on U.S. Route 62 near Bedford Road in Brookfield, swerved off the road and struck a metal pole.

A passenger in the car, Alessa N. Norris, 16, of Brookfield, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Thompson was taken to St. Elizabeth Hospital in Youngstown with serious injuries. Neither was wearing a seatbelt, police said.

Thompson was a senior and Alessa was a junior at Brookfield High School, where she was on the cheerleading squad. Her classmates called her “Le Le” and held several candlelight vigils after her death.

Less than a month after Alessa died, Patricia S. Copen, a 61-year-old Hubbard woman, was killed at the same intersection after police said she drove her car through a stop sign into the path of another vehicle.

Thompson’s sentencing will be scheduled after a pre-sentencing investigation is completed, according to court documents.

A no contest plea is treated the same as a guilty plea in Ohio.

Vehicular manslaughter is a misdemeanor there, and carries a jail sentence of up to six months, and a fine of up to $1,000.

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