Salem woman sentenced to 12 months in prison for fatal accident | News, Sports, Jobs

Lasky

LISBON – A Salem woman who failed to stop after a 2022 crash that killed Brandy Lynn Lasky on state Route 344 was sentenced Tuesday to 12 months in prison and a three-year suspension of her driver’s license.

“We are extremely disappointed,” Eric Lasky, Brandy’s older brother, said after the verdict was announced.

Family members of both the victim and defendant Patricia Lynn Phillips, 30, Vine Street, Salem, filled Judge Scott Washam’s courtroom in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court. Eric and his sister’s three children all addressed the judge. Family members also held up a large photo of Brandy Lynn Lasky for all to see.

Washam imposed a lesser sentence than prosecutors had asked for, noting that he had taken into account everything that was said.

“I want to apologize to her family. I know it will never be enough.” said Patricia Phillips in her statement. “If I could go back and change things, I would.”

She admitted that she was temporarily unable to act, but said “I can’t imagine what her family is going through.”

She was charged last year with a third-degree felony for failing to stop immediately after an accident after striking 46-year-old Brandy Lynn Lasky on State Route 344 on March 11, 2022. Lasky was traveling in the westbound lanes after midnight when the crash occurred. Patricia Phillips left the scene of the accident because she thought she had struck a deer, but did not stop or get out to investigate. Her sister, 31-year-old Brandy Phillips, had been in another vehicle and told Patricia she had struck a person. She was placed on probation earlier this year and was ordered to spend three days in jail with credit for one day already served for obstructing justice in connection with her actions.

According to the indictment, Patricia Phillips was driving a 2005 Ford F-350 registered to Brandon Seddon at the time of the accident.

“She left Mrs. Lasky on the side of the road to die alone,” Assistant District Attorney Tammie Riley Jones said another woman driving on that stretch of road outside Salem saw something and stopped to find the victim to call for help and render aid. “She did all the things this defendant should have done.”

Jones questioned some of the sentencing memorandum filled out by the defense, which claimed the victim was wearing all dark clothing, ran in front of the truck, and Patricia Phillips thought she had hit a deer. She showed a photo of Brandy Lynn Lasky wearing brightly colored pants and said the woman who stopped to help saw something even though it was dark. Regarding the possibility of a relapse, Jones said Patricia Phillips has a history of drinking alcohol and there is a video from the Tipsy Cow bar in Leetonia, where she worked shortly before the accident, that shows her serving drinks while drinking shots. She also said while awaiting sentencing in that case, she was charged with operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs and failure to use a turn signal at 1:46 a.m. in Salem on May 4. That case is still pending in district court, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for Aug. 15.

Jones, representing the state along with Assistant District Attorney Steve Yacovone, recommended the maximum sentence for the charges, which was three years in prison and a three-year driver’s license suspension.

Defense attorney Lynn Maro asked the judge to grant Patricia Phillips probation, telling the judge she had no malicious intent to kill anyone when she got in the car to get away from work. She pointed to the video of Patricia Phillips at work and said there was no evidence of impairment. The patrol’s accident reconstructionist said the victim was in the middle of the road at the time of impact. She was wearing a dark hoodie with the hood pulled up.

Maro said Patricia Phillips took responsibility for the accident when she learned she had struck a person. She turned herself in and voluntarily turned the vehicle over to authorities. Two separate 911 calls were also made. She described how her client is struggling and trying to move on, and that she has children and family.

“She’s been trying to do the right thing since she realized what happened.” Said Maro.

The victim’s youngest daughter, Arissa Pace, described learning her mother had died and her grandparents waking her up. She was just shy of her 19th birthday when her mother was killed.

“She can’t give me any motherly advice on how to get through life,” She said.

Her son, JT Pace, was 20 at the time of her death and told how he became depressed, couldn’t sleep, and considered suicide. In the month after her death, he realized he would never hug her again. He questioned why the defendant didn’t stop or call an ambulance to help his mother.

“She doesn’t deserve to be left on the side of the road,” he said.

The victim’s eldest daughter, Haley Brock, spoke about the call she received from a police officer and the words about the drag marks that follow her.

“I have a hole in my heart that I can’t heal” She said.

Eric Lasky said he watched his sister join the U.S. Navy and work in computer technology. He described her as a wife, mother and friend to so many. She was also a grandmother. She was God fearing, loving and generous.

“She was taken far too early,” he said.

She graduated from Salem High School in 1994, served in the Navy for five years, got married and had three wonderful children. She spent most of her life in North Carolina, he said. She moved back to the Salem area in 2018.

He thanked God that the passerby who stopped to help his sister was there. He said Patricia Phillips didn’t stop, she didn’t call for help, she just left her on the side of the road. And he said she hasn’t learned anything from the charges against her. But he also said: “I forgive her.”

Yacovone and Jones thanked the Ohio State Highway Patrol and their own investigators in the district attorney’s office, as well as the victim’s attorney, for their work. Yacovone said the grand jury issued the indictment based on the evidence presented.

Eric Lasky thanked the OSHP and the prosecutor’s office staff.

The result was not what the family had expected, but he said “Now we will heal and move on.”

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