On April 22, 2026, Columbiana County Common Pleas Judge Megan L. Bickerton signed an order giving Lowell Horst, the Canfield man convicted in a fatal 2022 head-on crash, tightly limited driving privileges. The court carved out narrow exceptions so Horst can drive to work, attend religious services and make a single weekly shopping run, all within strict time windows and documentation rules.
Bickerton’s written order lets Horst operate a motor vehicle only for those specified work, religious and personal errands and bars him from driving any vehicle that requires a commercial driver’s license. According to WFMJ, Horst must carry a certified copy of the court order and proof of insurance whenever he is behind the wheel, and the limited privileges are set to expire in March 2039.
Background: Crash, Conviction and Appeals
Horst was convicted in March 2024 of aggravated vehicular homicide and vehicular assault after investigators concluded his pickup crossed the center line on State Route 172 while he was watching sports highlights on his phone, causing the Sept. 23, 2022 collision that killed passenger Mary Coss, according to the appellate opinion. The Seventh District Court of Appeals upheld the convictions, and the Ohio Supreme Court later declined to hear the case, according to local coverage by the Morning Journal.
What The Order Allows And What It Does Not
The order gives Horst a 90-minute window on Monday nights to visit the Walmart in Salem, allows him to travel to North Lima Mennonite Church on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings, and permits him to drive to his job at Sensenig Farm Repair in Leetonia between 6:15 a.m. and 7:45 p.m. Monday through Saturday, with court-approved trips starting from his Salem home beginning June 8. Per WFMJ, Assistant Prosecutor Steven V. Yacovone did not oppose the limited request and asked the judge to spell out specific travel times to avoid confusion.
The Coss family filed a wrongful-death civil lawsuit that was transferred into Columbiana County, and local court records show the case was dismissed following a settlement in mid-October 2024. Court dockets published by The Review list the dismissal under “Sharon Lendon v. Lowell Horst, et al.” in October 2024.
Legal Implications
The criminal judgment handed Horst a 36-month prison sentence and a 15-year driver’s-license suspension at his March 2024 sentencing, penalties that remain in effect even as the court carved out these narrow travel exceptions. The appellate decision and judgment entries lay out the aggravated vehicular homicide and vehicular assault convictions and the sentence that followed, according to the opinion posted on Justia.
The tightly framed order centers Horst’s legal driving around employment and religious participation rather than any broad restoration of his license, and the privileges can be revoked if he violates a single condition. Future court filings and docket entries will show whether this sliver of road access stays in place, gets expanded or is pulled back.
