Emotional victim impact statements read at proceedings
Briana Mohler was sentenced Tuesday, May 28 to 11 to 16 1/2 years in prison for aggravated vehicular homicide in the January death of 17-year-old Chloe Lynn Hodge.
Logan County Common Pleas Judge Kevin P. Braig also revoked the defendant’s driver’s license for life and did not grant her any credit for jail time already served.
The defendant will serve 30 days in the Logan County Jail prior to being transferred to women’s prison facilities either in Dayton or, more likely, Marysville, to begin her 11-year sentence.
Prison parole authorities could impose an additional 5 1/2 years to Mohler’s sentence, bringing the total to 16 1/2 years, under the Reagan Tokes Law. They also have the discretion to potentially reduce her 11-year sentence by five to 15 percent for good behavior.
Several of Chloe’s family members and friends, most wearing purple “Chloe Effect” T-shirts, read emotional victim impact statements at the hearing.
All expressed anguish over the senseless loss of their loved one and friend, who they said would never get to graduate, marry or raise children of her own.
Several of Chloe’s high Indian Lake High School classmates shared memories of Chloe’s uplifting personality and how she was able to cheer them up after numerous basketball losses. They also shared the fear and anxiety they experience now when driving following their friend’s death.
Check back for updates to this story and video from the court proceedings.
PREVIOUS STORY————————
The motorist charged in the January death of a 17-year-old high school student pleaded guilty Tuesday, April 23, to multiple charges including a first-degree felony in Logan County Common Pleas Court.
Briana Mohler, 32, of Lakeview, pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide, a first-degree felony, as well as misdemeanor counts of driving under suspension and operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs.
The defendant admitted to responsibility in the Jan. 27 death of Indian Lake High School student Chloe Hodge. Mohler admitted in court to being under the influence of drugs while driving when she crashed head-on into a vehicle Hodge was driving. The teen was later pronounced dead at the Ohio State Medical Center in Columbus.
A prison sentence of at least three years is mandatory. Logan County Prosecutors are asking for sentence on the higher end, between 11 and 16 1/2 years.
A mandatory lifetime driver’s license revocation also applies in the case.
Mohler was out on bond on another case the morning of Jan. 25 when she was driving impaired around 9:50 a.m. along northbound County Road 130. She traveled left-of-center and into the path of the vehicle Hodge was driving.
Ms. Hodge succumbed to injuries she sustained in the crash on Jan. 27.
Mohler had recently pleaded guilty Jan. 9 to aggravated possession of drugs, a fifth-degree felony. Charges in that case resulted from a June 29, 2023 traffic stop by officers of the Washington Township Police Department.
In that instance, officers on patrol on Township Road 239 near U.S. Route 33 observed a vehicle being driven by Mohler and learned that she had a suspended driver’s license.
A traffic stop was initiated and she admitted there was marijuana inside of the vehicle. A probable cause search was conducted and marijuana, methamphetamine and fentanyl were located. A blue powdery substance was located folded up in a $50 bill, along with a glass methamphetamine pipe.
A pre-sentence investigation was ordered and she will be sentenced at 11 a.m. May 28.
