Who hasn't gotten so angry at the sight of a former girlfriend (or boyfriend) and her (or his) new squeeze that all they wanted to do was run them over mercilessly? Usually such blind rages cool off after taking a few deep breaths.
But not for 25-year-old Patrick Ohiku (The News-Gazette), who assaulted former boyfriend Brandon Drum and another man (Marshall Hughes) with his car in Urbana. Neither of the victims were too seriously injured: Drum had a broken arm, an injured knee and bumps on his head, while Hughes only had a knot on his head.
All three of the men were lucky, since Ohiku easily could have killed the pair.
That's why prosecutors originally charged the Chicago man with attempted murder and aggravated battery. The charges were dropped in lieu of Ohiku's guilty plea to the charge of failing to report an accident involving injury, a Class 2 felony. He was fined $1,500, given 150 hours of community service, ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation and sentenced to four years of probation.
Ohiku's Danville, Illinois criminal defense attorney, Baku Patel, told reporters that his client only meant to scare the victims (which, for the record, is still considered assault) but lost control of his car. That's kind of like saying, "I didn't mean to shoot him, I just lost control of the trigger."
Patel must have worked really hard for his client's arguably sweet bargain, presenting the judge with "several letters of support from family and friends of Ohiku."
- What are plea bargains? (ABA Family Legal Guide, via FindLaw)
- Battery Basics (FindLaw)
- Find a Chicago Criminal Attorney (FindLaw)
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