DOUGLAS JOHNSTON

A Barnesville man was sentenced to 10 years in prison Tuesday after his fifth felony charge of operating a vehicle while impaired.

Belmont County Common Pleas Judge John Vavra handed down that sentence to Douglas Johnston on Tuesday afternoon. Belmont County Prosecutor Kevin Flanagan said that the sentence included an additional alcohol-related specification.

Flanagan said that the maximum sentence that the defendant faced for the OVI was five years in prison but that the court was permitted to impose an additional five years given Johnston’s number of convictions in the last 20 years.

Flanagan added that Johnston’s felony OVI convictions in 2010, 2012, 2017 and 2021, in addition to the numerous misdemeanor convictions, served as a basis for imposing the sentence.

“Judge Vavra made a point during the hearing of stating that his sentence was as much about public safety as it was to punish Mr. Johnston,” Flanagan said.

He added that Johnston’s sentence was higher than what could have been imposed normally for two reasons.

“First, the specification of six OVIs in twenty years allowed the judge to impose five additional years to the sentence. And second, the felony OVI law changed allowing a sentencing court to impose up to five years, instead of the previous maximum sentence of three years,” Flanagan said. “These two factors allowed Judge Vavra to impose the sentence that he did which is not only the highest sentence in Belmont County history for a felony OVI but also is the highest in Ohio given that the defendant received the maximum possible sentence.”

He added that his office sees individuals who’ve made mistakes in the past, but believes this was no mistake.

“Mr. Johnston knew the potential consequences and decided to ignore them. His utter disregard for the safety of others left Judge Vavra with no choice but to impose the sentence that he did,” Flanagan said.