FREMONT, Ohio — A man indicted on charges of aggravated vehicular homicide and driving under the influence in the September death of a Bowling Green State University student was arraigned in a Sandusky County court Thursday morning.
James Baker Jr was indicted in December, three months after a four-vehicle crash in Sandusky County that killed 20-year-old BGSU student David 'Ryan' Walker, from Vermilion, Ohio, and injured others.
Baker faces two to eight years in prison if convicted of aggravated vehicular homicide. WTOL 11 spoke with Walker's family after the arraignment.
"Needless to say, it was difficult to see the defendant and hold my peace ... but I did," Walker's mother, Belinda, said.
Belinda is urging for improvements to back-of-vehicle safety. Walker was a passenger in the back seat of the vehicle that Baker's vehicle collided head-on with.
"My son should have survived this," she said. "If you're not going to take drunk drivers off the road, you better make the vehicles safer so they can survive when they get struck."
Belinda also said two to eight years in prison is far too little for the man indicted for killing her son.
"I'm looking to push (for) 16 to 20 years for a drunk driver who takes an innocent life," she said.
She's determined to change Ohio's drunk driving penalties, arguing the state is one of the most lenient on the crime.
"I plan on going out there and changing the law, changing the penalties," Belinda said. "We're not going to do two to eight years. You took a life ... Is your loved one's life worth only two to eight years?"
She said the best way to honor her son's memory is to strengthen the way the state punishes drunk driving.
Baker's arraignment is scheduled to be continued at a later date, which has not yet been set.