Staff report

WARREN — Girard Municipal Court Judge Jeff Adler on Tuesday recused himself from handling the criminal case involving Trumbull County Common Pleas Court Judge Ronald Rice and asked the Ohio Supreme Court to appoint a visiting judge.

The docket in Rice’s case includes a statement from Adler stating that he was taking those steps “(d)ue to the possible appearance of impropriety and to promote the public’s confidence in the judiciary.”

Rice, 69, was charged with a felony weapons offense and drunken driving after he allegedly possessed a firearm while intoxicated and crashed his car on Scoville North Road, north of Niles-Vienna Road in Vienna, Friday night.

His car failed to navigate a curve and traveled off of the right side of the road, striking two traffic signs and overturning in a ditch, the Ohio State Highway Patrol stated in an email.

In addition to the fifth-degree felony improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle and misdemeanor drunken driving, Rice is charged with a minor misdemeanor of failure to control a motor vehicle.

Rice was scheduled for arraignment Tuesday morning in Girard Municipal Court, but because his attorney, Rob Kokor, filed written not guilty pleas, there was no hearing Tuesday, court officials said.

No second hearing is scheduled yet for Rice, acocrding to court records.