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Thursday, October 9, 2025

Zanesville Man Receives 5 Year Sentence for Leaving Scene of Accident

(ZANESVILLE, OH)

Alexander Jocko, 31, of Zanesville appeared before Judge Gerald Anderson last Wednesday to receive sentencing after admitting guilt to one count of failure to stop after an accident with knowledge of death, a felony of the second degree.

After hearing the arguments from Jocko’s attorney and Assistant Prosecuting Attorney John Litle, Judge Anderson sentenced Jocko to prison for five (5) to seven (7) and one-half years.

Details of the Case:

Investigators with the Ohio State Highway Patrol responded to a report of a man struck by a vehicle on U.S. 40 on the West side of the County on September 19, 2024. A motorist reported that they had struck a man in the roadway who had already been hit by another vehicle.

Responding authorities found Melvin Fields, of Zanesville, dead at the scene. They conducted a thorough investigation, including collecting car parts, identifying serial numbers, conducting DNA testing, gathering nearby surveillance footage and interviewing available witnesses.

Through the investigation, authorities were able to identify the type of car involved in initially striking Mr. Fields. Authorities then asked the public for help locating the vehicle. Shortly thereafter, witnesses reported that a car matching the description was concealed at a residence in Muskingum County.

Troopers responded to the residence and learned that Alexander Jocko had been operating the vehicle the night before. When he returned home for the night there was new damage to the vehicle.

Jocko’s girlfriend informed her parents that she had been driving and that she had struck a deer. In truth, she was covering for her boyfriend, who had left the house to go to the store and returned home with damage to the car, hiding it.

Through the coroner’s report and evidence collected from the vehicle, Troopers learned that Mr. Fields was hit while standing in the roadway. Mr. Fields died immediately as a result of the injuries he sustained.

Toxicology tests showed that – well after the accident – Jocko tested positive for marijuana, and that Mr. Fields was also intoxicated at the time he was struck by the vehicle.

The law in Ohio makes it a serious felony to leave the scene of an accident when someone has been injured. It is an even more serious felony where someone leaves the scene of an accident when they know that the accident resulted in the death of another.

Troopers with the Ohio State Highway Patrol were able to show through nearby surveillance video that Jocko struck Fields, and then made a U-turn on U.S. 40, driving back past Mr. Fields’s body on his return home.

Because he did not stop, no sobriety testing could be conducted on Jocko at the time of the accident. In addition, due to the location, darkness outside, and the dark clothing worn by his victim, it would have been difficult in any case to show that the accident occurred due to the defendant’s use of drugs.

The defense, in attempt to make Jocko’s conduct less serious, claimed that Jocko called the police to turn himself in. Judge Anderson asked Jocko about calling the police and Jocko acknowledged that was not true and he did not speak to Troopers until after they found the vehicle at his residence.

Jocko expressed tremendous remorse for the harm he caused in the case.

Assistant Prosecutor John Litle requested a substantial sentence, highlighting the difficulty of the investigation and the length of time the victims had to wait to get justice. He noted to the court that Troopers were able to put together the difficult details necessary to show that Jocko knew he had killed a man when he fled, allowing the top form of the crime to be charged and convicted. Litle also read a letter on behalf of Melvin Fields’s son explaining the tremendous loss experienced by the family.

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