Joshua Johnston, 36, right, listens to Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court during Johnston’s sentencing hearing Tuesday. His attorney, Joseph Ohlin, is at left.

YOUNGSTOWN — The sentencing hearing for Joshua W. Johnston, 36, for burglary, menacing by stalking and obstructing official business in Beloit was postponed a couple of weeks because of a Nov. 10 fatal accident involving Johnston, but he still got the one year in prison called for in his plea agreement.

The Beloit case involved Johnston breaking into a Dogwood Drive home June 3. He had lived there at one time with a woman, but had moved out earlier.

When officers arrived for an “active burglary,” Johnston was in a vehicle trying to leave, according to a Smith Township police report. Johnston “failed to stop” when a Sebring officer approached him in his cruiser, the report states.

Johnston then drove around the Smith Township officer’s cruiser despite the officer activating an air horn siren and yelling for Johnston to stop, a police report states. Johnston drove into a yard and continued to travel on Sebring Lake Estates, but the two officers were able to arrest the suspect soon afterward.

Johnston’s ex-girlfriend told officers Johnston had been harassing and stalking her since they broke off their relationship several weeks earlier. He had called her phone more than 50 times, and she reported the calls to the Columbiana Police Department because she was in Columbiana at the time, she said.

On the evening of Johnston’s arrest, he came to her home and kept harassing her to speak to him, the woman said. When she refused, he kept trying to find a way to get into the home, she said. She called 911. Suddenly, she saw Johnston inside the home and she did not know how he got in, she said. A second woman also was in the home.

An officer then checked her house and found that a side door had been forced open. Johnston, who has an East South Range Road in North Lima address in court documents, was taken to the Mahoning County jail.

In the fatal accident, Johnston allegedly failed to yield the right of way while crossing state Route 82 in Trumbull County resulting in a collision that killed one passenger and severely injured another.

Before Judge R. Scott Krichbaum handed down the sentence, he asked Kevin Day, assistant county prosecutor, whether the crash would impact the sentencing for the Beloit incidents.

Day said he spoke to the state trooper who handled the investigation of the Nov. 10 crash, and Johnston has not been cited or charged with any offense “to this date. Given that fact, it will not have an effect on the agreed upon recommendation” in the Beloit case, Day said.

As for whether Johnston might face criminal charges in the fatal crash, Day said the trooper indicated that “he is investigating the matter, and the investigation is still open.”

Johnston’s ex-girlfriend gave a victim impact statement before sentencing, saying the night Johnston broke in, he “did not care if my 6-year-old was home or not. He did not care that my 9-month-pregnant best friend was standing behind me, terrified when he broke into the home.” She added, “I never would have imagined he would have broken into our home.”

When Krichbaum asked the woman if she agreed with the recommended sentence, she said he felt it should be longer, and the judge said he has a “very very strong personal feeling against burglary, where people break into the castle of another.” He said it “needs to be properly punished.”

Day said the one-year prison recommendation for Johnston was based on Johnston having no previous felony convictions. He said the one-year in prison was jointly recommended by the prosecution and defense.

FATAL CRASH

In the Nov. 10 crash, Johnston was driving southbound on Warner Road in Vienna at 8:13 p.m. Nov. 10 when he failed to yield the right of way while entering state Route 82, the highway patrol stated in a press release. His car was struck on the passenger side by another car traveling eastbound on Route 82.

A passenger in Johnston’s car, Miranda Zullo, 35, of Youngstown, was killed, and a second passenger, a juvenile, was taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, the release states. Johnston suffered non-life-threatening injuries, and the driver of the other car suffered minor injuries, according to the state patrol.

None of the people in Johnston’s car were wearing safety belts. Johnston has an extensive record of seat belt violations in Mahoning County dating from 2009 through 2022, most of them being issued by troopers from the Canfield Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol, according to court records.