A Butler County Common Pleas Court jury on Thursday found a Butler man guilty of felony charges state police filed following an April 2019 rollover crash in Franklin Township that severely injured a passenger in his vehicle.

The jury of eight men and four women found Michael Joseph Hilliard, 41, guilty of aggravated assault by vehicle while driving under the influence, DUI and DUI with a blood alcohol content of 0.16% or higher after deliberating for about an hour at the conclusion of a two-day trial.

After the jury verdict was read, Judge Kelley Streib found Hilliard guilty of a misdemeanor charge of driving with a license suspended for DUI related reasons and four summary traffic violations. The April 13, 2019, crash marked Hilliard’s fourth DUI offense, according to court records. He had a blood alcohol content of 0.161%, according to testimony from prosecution witnesses on Wednesday.

Sentencing is scheduled for July 7. Streib placed Hilliard on house arrest and ordered that he wear an anklet that monitors his travel and alcohol consumption until his sentence hearing.

The maximum penalty for aggravated assault by vehicle while DUI is 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine.

Hilliard testified on the second day of trial, saying he fell asleep in the back seat of his vehicle in the parking lot of a bar after he and two others left, and he did not know who was driving when the crash took place.

In addition, a bartender testified that Hilliard consumed two beers and was not intoxicated. She also said one of the people with Hilliard at the bar had the car keys.

Hilliard told the jury he fell asleep in the back seat of his Chevrolet Trailblazer after he and Betty Jo McCandless-Meadows and Kenneth Kline left the Rock Ann Haven bar in Butler Township after it closed, and he doesn’t know who drove.

McCandless-Meadows and Kline, who were dating at the time, testified on Wednesday that Hilliard was driving. Hilliard and Kline are related by marriage, according to testimony.

On Wednesday, Hilliard waived his right to a jury trial on the charge of driving with a license suspended for DUI related reasons, allowing Streib to decide if he was guilty or not guilty of that charge.

Hilliard admitted he did not have a driver’s license at the time of the incident, and that he hasn’t had a license since 2009 or 2010.

He said he started work at 5 a.m. on April 12 and drove to a job site. He said he went shopping after work, returned home and then left to go shopping again.

After leaving the store, he said he drove to the Longhorn Corral in Franklin Township at approximately 9 to 9:30 p.m. and drank a couple beers. McCandless-Meadows and Kline arrived. The trio talked and decided to go to Rock Ann Haven, according to testimony.

Hillard said that Kline told him McCandless-Meadows would drive because she doesn’t drink. He said the plan was for Kline and McCandless-Meadows to follow him to his home where he would leave his vehicle and ride with the couple to Rock Ann Haven.

When they arrived at Hilliard’s home, he said he saw that the couple’s car was full and there was no room for him, so they took his vehicle and McCandless-Meadows drove them to Rock Ann Haven.

McCandless-Meadows and Kline testified that Hilliard drove from his home to the bar and drove when they left after bar closed early on April 13.

A Rock Ann Haven bartender said McCandless-Meadows had the car keys in the bar.

The car struck a ditch along old Route 422, rolled over, became airborne and came to rest on its wheels off the road in the Greenwood Cemetery, according to testimony.

McCandless-Meadows and Hilliard were ejected from vehicle. Kline got out and knocked on the doors of several homes before he got someone to call 911. All three were flown to trauma hospitals in Pittsburgh.

McCandless-Meadows said she spent three months in the hospital followed by six months in a rehabilitation facility receiving treatment for her injuries. She spoke with a stutter that she said is the result of an injury to the frontal lobe of her brain. She said she didn’t stutter before the crash. Her injuries included brain swelling, two cranial fractures, 12 broken ribs, 10 broken vertebrae, a broken pelvis, a broken knee and punctures or lacerations to her heart, lung, stomach, spleen, liver, kidney and intestines, she said.

She said she uses oxygen to assist breathing and is on a list for a lung transplant; the discs in her back will have to be fused in two places; and her hip and knee will have to be replaced.

Hilliard said he sustained a broken back and ribs, and spent 10 days in the hospital.

Kline said he had a head injury and was limping when he went door to door seeking someone to call 911.

Assistant District Attorney Mark Lope, who prosecuted the case, said he was very satisfied with the verdict from the jury and judge.

Hilliard and his attorney, William Bercik of Pittsburgh, declined comment.