Hocking County man sentenced to community service for killing bicyclist [via Dispatch]

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Monday, February 7, 2011  02:45 PM

The Columbus Dispatch

Ervin Blackston
WBNS-10TV
Ervin Blackston
Michelle Kazlausky
FILE
Michelle Kazlausky
LOGAN, Ohio -- A Hocking County man will serve six days of community service after pleading no contest today to vehicular manslaughter for his role in the death of a bicyclist riding in a charity event in August.
Ervin Blackston, of Rockbridge, did not address Hocking County Municipal Court Judge John T. Wallace in court or talk to reporters afterward. His attorney, Tim Gleeson, said, "Mr. Blackston has a tremendous amount of regret and remorse."
Blackston took a negotiated plea deal after he initially pleaded not guilty to the second-degree misdemeanor charge of vehicular manslaughter for the death of 57-year-old Michelle Kazlausky of Reynoldsburg.
Kazlausky was riding her bicycle on the Columbus-to-Athens leg of the Pelotonia Tour for cancer research on Aug. 21 when Blackston hit her during a rainstorm at the intersection of Rts. 180 and 374 in rural Hocking County.
Wallace sentenced Blackston to 90 days in jail and suspended 87 days. He gave Blackston the option of serving three days in jail or six days of community service. Blackston took community service.
Wallace also fined him $750, and suspended $500 of it. He gave Blackston six months to pay the $250 fine after Gleeson said his client needed the time to muster the money. The judge also suspended Blackston's driver's license for a year, and suspended the time to six months. He also ordered a year on probation.

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