Crime & Safety

Mentor Man Spared Jail Time After Hitting 91-Year-Old Woman With Van

Randall McCauley faced up to six months in jail, but the judge sided with the family's wish for mercy

Though he previously pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of vehicular homicide, a Mentor man avoided jail time Thursday in Willoughby Municipal Court.

Randall McCauley, 72, faced up to six months in jail for hitting 91-year-old Bertha Adams with his van as she was walking across the Willow Plaza Shopping Center lot with a walker in November. Instead, Judge Harry Field sentenced McCauley to 180 days in jail, suspended 175 of them and allowed the man to perform community service instead of serving the five days in jail, according to The News-Herald.

Field ultimately sided with Adams' family members, who thought McCauley showed enough compassion to convince them that a jail term was unnecessary.

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“We no longer feel that spending time in jail for my mother’s death will serve any purpose for the individual who has the capacity to understand the hurt that he caused," Lee Adams said to the judge.

Bertha Adams was taken to the Lake West Medical Center where she died that day.

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“I am truly sorry for any pain and grief I caused you,” McCauley told the family. “I pray to God every day to give us the strength to cope with this.”


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