Staff photo / Ed Runyan James Stehura, 50, of Wedgewood Drive in Austintown, left, pleaded guilty Monday to charges of aggravated vehicular homicide and failure to stop after an accident in the March 11 hit-skip crash that killed Linda Adams, 66, as she walked on Lancaster Drive in Austintown. At right is Stehura’s attorney, Sam Amendolara.

YOUNGSTOWN — Prosecutors will ask that James A. Stehura of Wedgewood Drive in Austintown, get six years in prison for hitting Linda Adams with his truck on Lancaster Drive in Austintown on March 11 and leaving the scene.

Stehura, 50, pleaded guilty Monday to aggravated vehicular homicide and failure to stop after an accident before Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge Anthony Donofrio and will be sentenced at 9 a.m. March 14. His two offenses are third-degree felonies.

Stehura and his attorney will be able to argue for less prison time because the six years is not an agreed upon recommendation by the prosecution and defense, officials said.

Mahoning County Assistant Prosecutor Marty Hume said prosecutors will ask that Stehura get a 10-year driver’s license suspension, and prosecutors will object to Stehura being released from prison early on judicial release.

Stehura was arrested April 3, 2024, and was later indicted on charges of aggravated vehicular homicide, reckless homicide, failure to stop after an accident and tampering with evidence. The reckless homicide and tampering with evidence were dismissed in exchange for Stehura’s guilty pleas to the other charges. The crash was reported at 7:45 p.m.

An Austintown police report states dispatchers told officers that a white truck struck Adams, 66, and fled south on Lancaster. Adams was found unresponsive in the yard of 1706 Lancaster. She lived nearby.

The report states Adams was struck while walking with her partner. Police learned during their investigation that Stehura had consumed at least nine drinks during a four-hour period at a local bar located two minutes from the scene.

Police obtained video of Stehura at the bar and of him leaving the bar and getting into his truck, according to reports.

Police also obtained a doorbell camera video of the truck that hit Adams and posted a picture of the vehicle on the department’s Facebook page. A social media tip led them to Stehura’s home that evening, but neither he nor the truck were there.

The next morning, an employee at Stehura’s tree-cutting business called police to say that Stehura’s truck was parked in the business’s garage with front-end damage matching what police described in the Facebook post.

Later that day, Stehura’s attorney called police to tell them Stehura was willing to speak with officers and let them confiscate the truck.