HAMILTON TOWNSHIP, Ohio — After he was found guilty by a jury of two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide, one count of operating a vehicle under the influence and one count of failure to stop after an accident, 38-year-old Jeremy Penwell was sentenced to 7-10 years in prison by a Warren County judge.
According to David Fornshell, the Warren County prosecutor, Penwell was under the influence of controlled substances when he drove his vehicle down Grandin Road and hit and killed 37-year-old Aleksandre Begheluri in September.
Begheluri was outside of his vehicle fixing a chain that was dragging from his trailer when Penwell hit him. Surveillance footage showed a Honda Pilot driven by Penwell leaving the scene east on Grandin Road toward S.R. 48.
Penwell then drove to work, according to Fornshell, where several of his co-workers found him to be under the influence. The Hamilton Township Police Department also determined that before he hit and killed Begheluri, Penwell was passed out in his car at a gas station, Fornshell said.
Before the crash that left Begheluri dead, Penwell had a history of multiple OVI arrests.
A warrant commanding police to arrest Penwell for drug possession and driving a car under the influence was issued six months before he killed Begheluri.
In August 2021 — one month before the fatal crash — Penwell was arrested for OVI and bonded out of the Hamilton County jail. He was still out on bond when he killed Begheluri while under the influence on Sept. 14.
