Ohio Supreme Court takes up ‘extreme old age’ cases in Franklin County Court

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — A central Ohio couple nearly died in a televised crash on ABC 6 On Your Side, which said their case fell through the cracks of the judicial system.

The trial of the suspected drunk driver who struck Jennifer and Larry Waddell is scheduled for February 2025. This is almost three years since that life-changing accident.

I was in a ditch. It was on the other side of the ditch. I was trying to reach him,” Larry Waddell told ABC 6 News last summer about the accident.

The couple was taking their new tricycle out for a ride in July 2022 when Franklin County deputies say they were hit by Jeffrey Roberts, whose blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit.

The couple spent weeks in intensive care with a punctured bone and more than a dozen broken bones. The Roberts’ case has now seen nothing but courtroom holdouts and delays, and they say they have yet to experience closure.

“Different people told us, ‘it would have been better if one of you had died.’ If one of us had died, everything would have gone faster,” Jennifer Waddell said.

According to the Ohio Supreme Court, Roberts’ case was supposed to go to trial six months after the indictment. This would have been almost a year and a half ago.

In April 2023, the Superior Court Chief Judge sent a letter to the Franklin County Common Pleas Court Administrative Judge. “The Division has experienced significant increases in the number of cases pending beyond the Supreme Court’s time standards.”

To address the problem, the Supreme Court recommended adding a judicial seat to the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas. But only Ohio lawmakers can add judgeships to a particular court.

One of the only bills to add a judge’s seat to a specific court, this legislative session included the addition of a second judgeship to the Adam County Common Pleas Court.

During hearings in the Ohio House of Representatives Civil Justice Committee, members suggested that county residents should decide whether to add or remove judges from the court.

(So) we are not doomed to be a judge forever. At an October 2023 hearing, Rep. Ron Ferguson (R-Winterville) said there needs to be the ability to turn the tide. “As we all know, no one likes to do the hard work of unseating an elected official, but sometimes it’s just the thing to do.”

According to the last census, Franklin County has a population of more than 1,300,000. The number of judges in Franklin County Common Pleas currently stands at 17. In 2024, the monthly average rate of criminal cases over the age limit is 32 percent.

Compare this to the Cuyahoga Common Pleas Court, which has 34 judges and a county population of 1,200,000. Monthly extreme old age criminal cases in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas are significantly less than Franklin County, at 15 percent.

No bill has been introduced to add a judge seat to the Franklin County Common Pleas as the Supreme Court has issued recommendations to Franklin County to reduce the number of overage cases.

“Get more people to work,” said Jennifer Waddell. “This is what we pay our taxes for.”

ABC 6 News will continue to investigate this matter.