Ivkovich, 37, was found guilty on Monday of two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide stemming from the April 30, 2015 crash that killed Crawford (also known as Sharon Shockey), 48, of Kettering. The Montgomery County Coroner’s Office ruled that Crawford died of multiple blunt force injuries.
Ivkovich pleaded no contest to both counts on the eve of what would have been his trial in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court. Instead, he avoided a trial by pleading as charged.
Ivkovich’s sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 17 in front of Judge Timothy O’Connell.
A press release from the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office said it will file a sentencing memorandum in which prosecutors will ask for prison time. The maximum sentence for Ivkovich could be eight years behind bars.
The crash happened around 2:15 a.m. the morning of April 30, 2015 when Ivkovich was driving west on East Third Street in his 2008 Honda Accord and struck a concrete support under a train trestle near Webster Street.
UD said Ivkovich resigned his position sometime after the incident in 2015. He had been the school’s men’s and women’s basketball strength and conditioning coach.
“It is especially distressing when a driver decides to drink and then drive and kills someone in the process,” Prosecutor Mat Heck Jr. said when Ivkovich was indicted. “This woman’s death was completely preventable, if the defendant had simply called a cab.”
Crawford was the mother of four and a 1984 graduate of Kettering Fairmont High School, according to an online obituary.
A statement from UD not long after the incident said: “It’s a tragedy and our thoughts and prayers are with those involved and their families.”
Ivkovich began working for UD in 2011. An online biography states Ivkovich worked at Marshall University, Central Michigan University, New Mexico State University and the University of Cincinnati.
Court records indicate Ivkovich told a Dayton police officer that before the crash he and Crawford had just left a bar and that was the last thing he remembered. The officer, who observed the odor of an alcoholic beverage on Ivkovich’s breath, asked how much he had drank, Ivkovich said: “Quite a bit.”
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