The Green Twp. man convicted in a distracted driving crash that killed an 81-year-old woman is appealing the verdict.

The attorney for 29-year-old Lowell Horst filed a notice of appeal with the Seventh District Court of Appeals two weeks after a jury took only an hour to find him guilty of vehicular homicide and vehicular assault.

Horst was immediately sentenced to three years in prison and had his license suspended for 15 years. 

The charges stem from a crash in September of 2022 that claimed the life of 81-year-old Mary Coss of Massillon. 

Horst admitted to State Troopers that he was watching sports highlights on his phone, which distracted him and caused him to cross lanes and strike Coss's SUV head-on with his pickup truck.

Another person in the SUV was also severely injured in the crash. That person died several months later but prosecutors only charged Horst with vehicular assault for that person.

Horst is currently in the custody of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction awaiting transfer to a prison.

The Coss family has a separate civil lawsuit for the death of the second person in the accident where they are asking for more than $25,000 in restitution. The trial in that civil case is scheduled for October.