The Ohio 11th District Court of Appeals upheld the conviction of a retired Pennsylvania state trooper convicted in an OVI crash in Southington that claimed the life of a 23-year-old man.

According to the Trumbull County Prosecutor's Office, the appeals court upheld the conviction of 56-year-old Joseph Yuran who is serving an indefinite prison sentence of seven to 10 and a half years.

Yuran pled guilty in March to charges of aggravated vehicular homicide and OVI in connection with a crash that resulted in the death of 23-year-old Tyler Richmond of Warren and was handed his sentence the following month.

In addition to the prison sentence, Yuran was ordered to pay a fine of $1,075 and pay Richmond's family $750 in restitution. His driver's license was also suspended for the rest of his life.

Yuran filed an appeal claiming the court erred in legal sentencing procedures, violated constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment and made factually inaccurate findings.

However, the appeals court ruled that all of these claims lacked merit.

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