Driver convicted in deadly school bus crash files notice to appeal conviction

CLARK COUNTY — The man convicted of causing a Clark County school bus crash that killed an 11-year-old boy in August 2023 has filed a notice he intends to appeal his conviction, according to court records.

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As reported on News Center 7 at 5:00, Hermanio Joseph, 36, was convicted in May after a jury trial for causing the crash that killed Aiden Clark.

He was sentenced to nine to 13.5 years in prison and will be on probation for two to five years after release.

Just days after his sentence, his lawyers filed a notice in Clark County Common Pleas Court of their intent to appeal the conviction to the Second District Court of Appeals, court documents obtained by News Center 7 indicate.

The formal appeal has not yet been filed to the Second District Court of Appeals, according to a court record review by News Center 7.

The state’s public defender’s office will represent Joseph for the appeal.

Joseph’s defense lawyers, Cathy Weithman and Terry Hart, and Clark County Prosecutor Dan Driscoll described the filing as a “standard appeal.”

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“We always do it after criminal cases so the Court of Appeals can look at it to see if there was any error,” Weithman said.

Driscoll said this appeal does not come as a surprise. He told News Center 7′s John Bedell that his office is confident they tried the case properly and are fully prepared to defend it.

In this case, an appeal would not be an argument based on the facts of the case, instead, based on the law and procedure.

After the three-day trial, Joseph was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and vehicular homicide, according to a previous News Center 7 report.

According to a previous News Center 7 report, Joseph did not have an Ohio driver’s license, nor one from any other U.S. state at the time of the crash, but chose to drive anyway.

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In court, Joseph explained what he said caused the crash.

“It’s the sun that hit my eye, you know, that caused the accident,” Joseph’s translator translated to the court.

We will continue to follow this story.

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