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WARREN -- A Girard man received a 21-month prison sentence Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to two counts of operating a vehicle under the influence, which was connected to an October 2021 traffic crash in Bristol Township.
Tyler Zuniga, 33, of Washington Avenue, was found to be a repeat OVI offender by Trumbull County Common Pleas Judge Andrew D. Logan, who suspended his driver's license for life and fined him $1,350.
Zuniga was arrested and found to have alcohol on his breath by Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers after the Oct. 29, 2021, crash on Housel Craft Road, prosecutors said.
Zuniga told the judge he hopes his life has two halves, because the first half involved his struggles with alcohol addiction.
"I'm not into making big apology speeches," Zuniga said after sentencing.
His attorney Robert Root III said his client is indigent but the judge said the fine was mandatory, as well as the prison sentence caused by the specification that he was a multiple OVI offender.
The plea hearing offset a trial scheduled to start in Logan's court on Monday.
Logan pointed to five other OVI cases involving Zuniga dating back to 2012, two in Newton Falls court, one in Girard court and two in county common pleas court.
Zuniga also will have to forfeit the 2001 Lincoln that was involved in the Bristol Township crash as well as face two years of supervision after his release from prison.
gvogrin@tribtoday.com