DUBLIN, OH. (THECOUNT) — A former Ohio State All-American offensive lineman was sentenced Wednesday to a minimum of five years in prison after pleading guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide in the drunken, high-speed crash that killed a 24-year-old Columbus man on a Dublin road nearly nine months ago. Kirk Barton, 41, of Lewis Center, entered his guilty plea in Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, where a judge immediately imposed the sentence and permanently revoked his driver’s license.
Ethan West Perry of Columbus was pronounced dead at the scene of the June 21, 2025 crash on U.S. Route 33 at West Bridge Street in Historic Dublin. He was 24.
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In court Wednesday, the prosecuting attorney told the judge that Barton was traveling at 126 miles per hour five seconds before impact and 114 miles per hour at the moment of collision. A formal toxicology report revealed Barton’s blood alcohol content was 0.242 percent — three times the legal limit of 0.08 percent. An initial field measurement had placed his BAC at 0.17 percent. Barton admitted in open court to drinking before getting behind the wheel.
“I am pleading guilty because I am guilty,” Barton told the court.
According to Dublin Police and Franklin County prosecutors, Barton was driving a Ford F-150 Raptor pickup truck the wrong way on U.S. 33 in the early morning hours of June 21, 2025. After correcting his direction, he continued eastbound toward Historic Dublin at a rate of speed that witnesses and data recorders later confirmed exceeded 100 miles per hour. His truck struck Perry’s Lexus IS 250 just west of Franklin Street with catastrophic force. Barton’s truck traveled approximately 900 feet from the point of impact before coming to rest. Perry never had a chance. Officers arriving on scene found him dead. Barton, who sustained non-life-threatening injuries, was observed with glassy, bloodshot eyes and slurred speech and was unable to answer basic questions. He later admitted to consuming alcohol before the crash.
Perry’s mother, Roslyn Perry, delivered a victim impact statement in court that drew a hushed silence from those in attendance. “Because of your selfishness, I will never be a mother of a groom or a grandparent,” she said. “Because of your selfishness, he doesn’t call me in the morning anymore.” Roslyn Perry had spoken publicly about her son’s death in the days after the crash, telling a Cleveland television station: “There will be a hole in my heart that will never close. My only baby was gone.” She said she found it deeply troubling that Barton had a well-documented prior history with alcohol-related incidents and that coverage of the crash had focused heavily on his football career. “Who cares? That is not relevant. He killed my child,” she said at the time.
Barton was originally indicted on two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide and two counts of operating a vehicle while impaired. Under Wednesday’s plea agreement, he pleaded guilty to a single count of aggravated vehicular homicide, a second-degree felony in Ohio carrying a mandatory prison term of two to eight years. The remaining charges were dismissed. The judge sentenced Barton to the mandatory minimum of five years and ordered the permanent suspension of his driving privileges.
Barton’s legal history extends well beyond Wednesday’s courtroom. Court records show he was arrested on alcohol-related driving offenses in both 2010 and 2017, pleading down to lesser charges in each instance. In 2018, he was charged with felonious assault on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest following an incident outside a Dublin bar during the Memorial Golf Tournament. That charge arose from an encounter in which Barton allegedly slammed a taxi van door into a deputy’s arm. He was also the co-founder of the Ohio State football media outlet Buckeye Scoop, which was banned from covering Ohio State events in person in 2021.
Barton played right tackle at Ohio State from 2003 to 2007, earning first-team All-American honors as a senior and serving as a captain on the 2007 Buckeyes squad that won the Big Ten title and played in the BCS National Championship Game. The Chicago Bears selected him in the seventh round of the 2008 NFL Draft. His professional career was brief, spanning three seasons with seven different teams and resulting in only one regular season game appearance.
Ethan Perry, a Columbus resident with roots in the Greater Cleveland area, was one mile from his home at the time of the crash. He was described by family and friends as a young man of warmth and promise whose life was cut short by no fault of his own. A candlelight vigil held in his honor drew dozens of mourners in the days following the crash.
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