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Five months after she was granted judicial release, a Marietta woman was arrested Tuesday for her ninth OVI.
Michelle Thompson, 45, of 117 Dean St., was arraigned by video conference Friday morning in the courtroom of Washington County Common Pleas Judge Mark Kerenyi.
Charges were filed against Thompson on Thursday for violating the conditions of her judicial release, as she had operated a motor vehicle while under the influence and while under a suspended driver’s license.
According to a report from the Ohio State Highway Patrol, Trooper C.K. Quattlebaum was dispatched Tuesday to a single vehicle rollover on Ohio 821 in Salem Township. The vehicle, a dark-colored Infiniti SUV, was in a field off the right side of the roadway, where it appeared to have struck a utility pole and overturned.
The trooper could detect an odor of alcohol on Thompson, who had driven the vehicle. Her eyes were allegedly bloodshot and glassy, while her speech was slow and lethargic.
Her vehicle reportedly contained several open containers of beer and a half-empty bottle of liquor.
Thompson was transported to Marietta Memorial Hospital by the Salem Township Squad.
She was sentenced in August 2019 to 18 months in prison for driving under the influence. She has had convictions for OVI in 2019, 2014, 2013, 2009, 2000, 1997 and 1994.
“This is a felony OVI and she’s on judicial release for OVI,” said Washington County Assistant Prosecutor David Silwani. “She’s unable to stop drinking and driving.”
When she was granted judicial release in December, Thompson had been in prison four months of the 18-month sentence.
Silwani said Thompson had only left the STAR Community Justice Center in Franklin Furnace about three months ago.
The state asked for Thompson to be held without bond and her attorney, Beau Cross, didn’t object.
“I order her held without bond as a danger to the community,” Kerenyi said.
Her judicial release violation hearing is scheduled for 11 a.m. May 29 in front of Common Pleas Judge Randall Burnworth.
Michele Newbanks can be reached at mnewbanks@mariettatimes.com.
At a glance:
• Michelle Thompson, of Marietta, is being held without bond after an arrest for her ninth OVI.
•She was out on judicial release when she crashed her vehicle on Tuesday.
•Thompson was driving on a suspended license.
• A judicial release violation hearing will be at 11 a.m. May 29 in the courtroom of Common Pleas Judge Randall Burnworth.
Source: Washington County Court of Common Pleas.