Judge says Columbus man shows no remorse for 2017 wrong-way crash that devastated a family
Betty Griggs was driving her family to a Columbus-area Chuck E. Cheese for a fun family outing on Aug. 8, 2017 when a wrong-way driver with cocaine in his system turned the trip into a tragedy.
In the car with the 63-year-old from New Lexington in Perry County, were her daughter-in-law Amanda Griggs, 38, and Amanda's daughters, 8-year-old Drea Griggs and 2-year-old Nola Cotton.
Police and prosecutors say Richard Hough, of Columbus, drove a Chevy Tahoe in the wrong direction on a ramp from Refugee Road onto westbound U.S. 33 and collided head-on with Griggs’ car.
Betty Griggs was taken to OhioHealth Grant Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead at around 12:50 p.m.
Amanda Griggs was taken in critical condition to Grant Medical Center and her two critically injured children were taken to Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
Almost six years later, Hough, now 47, is still filing appeals in his case and the victims’ family has endured two jury trials and two sentencing hearings.
Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Mark Serrott sentenced Hough for a second time on Wednesday, this time giving him 18 years — three more years than he was sentenced to in 2019 after his first conviction. The judge, citing expert psychological reports that Hough is faking a serious mental illness to challenge his conviction, said Hough was trying to avoid taking responsibility for his actions.
“It’s one of the worst cases I’ve ever seen of somebody trying to get out of the situation and not accepting responsibility whatsoever,” Serrott said during the hearing.
A family forever impacted
In court on Wednesday, Betty and Amanda Griggs’ family described how they’ve continued to suffer.
April King, Amanda’s sister, said during the hearing that Hough is also responsible for the death of Amanda Griggs, who died by suicide, although he is not convicted of her death.
"Mr. Hough, before the collision, Amanda was a beautiful woman. She was a real-life Snow White," King said. "Amanda was kind, a friend, a loving mother and she was a hero, a survivor of addiction and an advocate for recovery."
After the crash, Amanda Griggs endured several surgeries over the next few weeks and was in and out of consciousness. She struggled with short-term memory and each time she awoke, she'd ask about Betty and her girls.
"I had to tell her several times each day that Betty was killed, Drea was barely alive and Nola suffered a traumatic brain injury," King said. "It was fresh anguish for her over and over."
Amanda was not well enough to attend Betty Griggs' funeral and say goodbye to the woman whom she called, ‘My Betty.'
Amanda was the last one to leave the hospital, going home to a third-floor apartment with a broken leg, broken arm and open wound across her stomach.
"Amanda was left broken. Her body became a prison," King said. "Her mind no longer worked, incapable of concentration or rational thought. Her face housed a scar so hideous it horrified her to look in a mirror and her sobriety that she worked so hard for all but vanished."
Amanda Griggs never returned to work. She used a walker or, for longer distances, a wheelchair. And she required pain medication that she was terrified of taking. The medicine was kept in a lockbox and her fiance dispensed it for her.
"She was 42 when the brain you injured convinced her she wasn't worth living anymore — that she was an ugly, hideous burden on her family," King told Hough. "Our father lived next door and heard the gun go off" on Aug. 21, 2021.
In her obituary, the family wrote:
“Today, Amanda feels no pain and walks without assistance. Today, Amanda reunites with her son, Tyler Griggs, her husband, Chris Griggs, and her very special mother-in-law, Betty Griggs whom she called, ‘My Betty.’”
Drea and Nola are forever scarred emotionally, physically and cognitively, King said.
"They must live the rest of their lives different ... and without love and support from their mother and grandmother," King said.
Nola has a long, one-inch thick scar on the top of her head that hair won’t grow over. Her family says Nola isn’t bothered by the scar now, but they worry she will be later in life and that others will be cruel to her because of her appearance.
King told Serrott in court that she wanted retribution and for Hough to never go free.
Unlike a murder conviction, a conviction of aggravated vehicular homicide in Ohio does not carry a life sentence. For the charges, Serrott could have sentenced Hough to 23 ½ years.
Multiple appeals
A jury found Hough guilty on June 30 of operating a motor vehicle while impaired and multiple counts of aggravated vehicular homicide and aggravated vehicular assault.
Hough was convicted in September 2019 on the same charges by a different jury and Serrott sentenced him then to 15 years in prison.
Hough appealed his case to the Ohio Tenth District (Franklin County) Court of Appeals on the grounds that he did not receive a hearing to determine if he was competent to stand trial.
Defendants are presumed mentally competent to stand trial under the law, but are entitled to a competency hearing upon request under Ohio law.
On April 12, 2019, Hough’s attorney at the time, Tameca Plair, submitted two motions: a motion for a psychiatric evaluation and a motion for a competency evaluation. Serrott denied the former but told The Dispatch that he did not see the latter motion.
A three-judge panel for the Ohio Tenth District Court of Appeals unanimously sided with Serrott and denied Hough’s appeal. In her opinion for the panel, Judge Julia Dorrian noted that after Serrott denied the motion fo a psychiatric evaluation, Plair proceeded to trial and did not raise the issue of competency again to Serrott until Hough’s sentencing on Sept. 12, 2019.
Hough appealed the Tenth District’s decision to the Ohio Supreme Court, filing that appeal pro se, or without the assistance of an attorney.
In a split 4-3 decision in December, the Ohio Supreme Court reversed the Tenth District’s judgment and sent the case back to Serrott’s court for a competency hearing and another trial.
After psychologist evaluations, Serrott found Hough competent to stand trial, and he received one last week. A jury again convicted him.
When Serrott increased Hough’s prison sentence this time around, he said he was not being vindictive but basing his decision on new evidence, including Hough’s record of misbehavior in prison and new psychologist evaluations.
At the sentencing hearing, Serrott cited multiple reports from experts who evaluated Hough this year and reported that Hough was likely “malingering” or faking serious mental illness.
Serrott criticized Hough, saying he has shown “no remorse whatsoever” for the life he took and the young lives he has forever changed.
Hough indicated Wednesday that he plans to appeal again, and Serrott referred the case to the Ohio Public Defender’s office.
Defense attorneys who represented Hough most recently and Plair, who is now a Franklin County Juvenile Court Magistrate, did not return phone calls from The Dispatch requesting comment.
jlaird@dispatch.com
@LairdWrites
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus wrong-way driver sentenced again in fatal crash plans appeal
