DELAWARE, Ohio (WCMH) – A Delaware County court denied an appeal from a Blacklick woman who is serving a 36-year prison sentence, will remain in jail after an appeal was denied.
According to the Delaware County Prosecutor’s Office, the Fifth District Court of Appeals upheld an earlier decision by a Delaware County jury, which found Laylah Bordeau guilty on eight counts of aggravated vehicular homicide. She was sentenced to a minimum of 32 years and maximum of 36 years.
On March 29, 2021, Bordeau, 26, of Blacklick, drove her car into oncoming traffic on Interstate 71 South, crashing into an SUV, killing all four passengers. Bordeau, who was taken to Grant Medical Center with life-threatening injuries, had more than 92 nanograms per milliliter of fentanyl in her blood at that time. On fentanyl, loss of consciousness can happen at 34 ng/ml, and the level used for surgery is 50 ng/ml.
Deputies said Bordeau drove off the left side of the roadway, crossed the median, struck a cable barrier and entered into the southbound lanes of I-71, hitting a Toyota RAV4 head on. The Toyota then hit a Freightliner Cascadia driven by Ali Mohamud, 39, of Chelsea, Massachusetts, at an angle.
The Toyota flipped over on its top and caught fire before coming to a rest. Abigail Sperl, 38, Brian Sperl, 42, Lincoln Sperl, 11, and Bastion Sperl, 14, of Powell all died at the scene.
Bordeau’s Nissan Titan also caught fire. Mohamud was not injured.
During the appellate hearing, defense attorneys cited assignments of error during the trial court with respect to a motion to suppress a blood test, not instructing the jury of a lesser included offense of third-degree felony for vehicular manslaughter, and precluding a doctor from testifying to seizures under the Daubert Standard. All five assignments of error were overruled.
“This decision not only affirms the outstanding work of our trial team to seek justice for the Sperl family, but it affirms what we all know,” Delaware County Prosecutor Melissa Schiffel said. “Laylah Bordeau got behind the wheel of a car while high on drugs and because of her actions, the Sperl family is no longer with us.”