With new judge on the case, man withdraws guilty plea in crash that killed 3 people

A man who pleaded guilty in February to killing three people and seriously injuring a fourth in a crash on Interstate 275 withdrew that plea Wednesday.

In a courtroom packed with the families of the people killed and injured, Andrew Blankenship, who faced up to 33 years in prison, was allowed to withdraw his plea to charges including aggravated vehicular homicide and aggravated vehicular assault.

The case, which is in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court, has an unusual procedural history, and prosecutors on Wednesday didn't object to the withdrawal.

Blankenship, 31, initially pleaded guilty before Judge Tom Heekin. But Heekin went on medical leave earlier this year, and Robert Ruehlman, a retired judge, was appointed in April by the Ohio Supreme Court to oversee Heekin’s cases.

The plea did not include an agreed prison term, which meant the judge would decide that. Based on the charges Blankenship pleaded to, he was facing a maximum of 29 to 33 years.

Ruehlman, who was on the bench for more than three decades, was known to impose severe sentences in certain cases.

On Wednesday, he accepted Blankenship’s plea withdrawal, pointing out that he is a new judge on the case.

A trial is now set for Feb. 11, 2025, although it’s possible another plea agreement will be worked out before then.

The crash happened the night of April 9, 2023 on I-275 in Anderson Township. Blankenship, of Cold Spring, Kentucky, was driving a pickup without its headlights on, officials have said, passing vehicles on the highway’s shoulder.

He struck a Lexus that had stopped to assist a disabled vehicle. The Lexus then slammed into the disabled vehicle, which then struck a tow truck that also was on the shoulder.

Janaya Glover, 22, who was standing on the highway’s shoulder, was killed. A family member, John Glover, who also was standing on the shoulder, was seriously injured. The tow truck driver, 38-year-old Keith Skaggs, who officials said was kneeling by the disabled vehicle, also was killed.

The driver of the Lexus, Richard Glaser, 66, had to be extricated from the vehicle and died from his injuries.

Investigators determined Blankenship was under the influence of alcohol at the time.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: With new judge on the case, man withdraws guilty plea in crash that killed 3 people