WARREN — A Southington man convicted of aggravated vehicular assault, in a case that left a motorcyclist injured, had his appeal case denied Tuesday by the Ohio Eleventh District Court of Appeals.

Corey D. Hoffman, 25, currently at Richland Correctional Institution, is appealing a decision made by the trial court denying his petition for relief for a September 2021 traffic crash that injured Tammy Kingery.

A petition for relief is a request to review a conviction.

Hoffman’s petition was dismissed by the trial court in June 2024 by former Trumbull County Common Pleas Judge W. Wyatt McKay, who sentenced Hoffman to 4.5 years in prison for aggravated vehicular assault and failure to stop after an accident.

The two-page decision was written by Judge Mary Jane Trapp, and joined by fellow Judges Matt Lynch and John J. Eklund. It upholds the ruling by McKay to reject Hoffman’s petition for relief.

Hoffman’s defense team, led by attorney John B. Juhasz, contended that Hoffman’s conviction should be overturned due to procedural errors and issues with the evidence presented at trial.

Hoffman’s defense also argued that the trial court had erred in several ways, claiming that new evidence not previously available could have altered the outcome of the trial. Specifically, they argued that the trial court’s handling of critical evidence and procedural errors during the trial were significant enough to warrant a reevaluation of Hoffman’s conviction.

However, the court found that Hoffman’s appeal was untimely, as he failed to meet the 30-day filing requirement outlined in the Ohio rules of appellate procedure following the June 24, 2024, judgment entry from the trial court. The court’s memorandum opinion indicated that the notice of appeal was filed two days late, which was deemed a jurisdictional issue preventing the court from considering the merits of Hoffman’s arguments.

The dismissal of Hoffman’s appeal means that his conviction remains in effect and that his post-conviction relief petition will not be reviewed further.

The case stems from the night of Sept. 20, 2021, when Hoffman had been driving near his home and struck Kingery while she was operating a motorcycle. Afterward, Hoffman fled the scene while a neighbor called 911 after hearing Kingery’s calls for help. Taking the witness stand during a jury trial Kingery read in her prepared statement, “My life has changed in every possible way. There is not enough money in the world to replace what I have lost.”

During the trial, Hoffman’s attorney admitted his client had gone home after the accident and told his father. Hoffman later confessed to the sheriff’s office that drinking was a factor in the crash.

Hoffman said he had left the Iron Horse tavern and dropped off a friend and was almost home when he said he struck something in the road.