The jury trial of Modou Ngom, the semi-truck driver charged in a fatal April crash on Interstate 71 near Lewis Center, opened Tuesday, Sept. 22, in Delaware County Court of Common Pleas.

Ngom, 50, of Columbus, faces three counts of aggravated vehicular homicide and four counts of vehicular assault, all felonies. He has pleaded not guilty.

As we reported Sept. 22, a grand jury added an eighth charge, a count of vehicular assault, in the week before trial.

The April 11 crash killed Lynnea Soposki, 36, a veterinarian at Dublin Muirfield Animal Hospital; her husband, Luke Soposki, 37, an analytical chemist at Mettler-Toledo International in Columbus; and their 1-year-old son, Logan. The family lived in Ashley.

According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, Ngom's 2006 Freightliner semi was traveling northbound on I-71 near the U.S. 36 and State Route 37 interchange. The semi failed to stop while approaching traffic backed up in a construction zone and struck several stopped vehicles from behind, according to 10TV. Nine vehicles were involved. Three other people were hospitalized with serious injuries.

Prosecutors allege Ngom did not brake before driving into standstill traffic, according to ABC 6.

In Ohio State Highway Patrol body-camera video captured at the scene on April 11, Ngom told troopers, "I'm trying to miss them, but she's right in front of my truck."

Before trial, Ngom asked a judge to dismiss the case, arguing that extensive media coverage would make it harder to find a fair jury. That request was unsuccessful.

The crash also raised questions about Ngom's driving record. An ABC 6 investigation found that weeks before the April 11 crash, Ngom was cited in Kansas for a malfunctioning ABS warning light. After the crash, federal investigators cited him for his air reservoir coming loose from his brake system.

Truck safety consultant Scott L. Turner reviewed Ngom's federal safety profile and found nine violations across two roadside inspections over two years, with a 66% out-of-service rate after the April crash. Turner called that figure "three times the national average" in a May report by ABC 6.

Separately, the Ohio Department of Public Safety said Ngom appeared to have entered the United States in the 1990s and used multiple names and dates of birth to obtain state and federal identification. Evidence indicates he fraudulently obtained an Ohio driver's license around 2003 and a commercial driver's license in 2007 under an alternate identity, according to DPS.

He was later naturalized as a U.S. citizen in the mid-2010s under that same identity, DPS said. State records show he changed his name back to Modou Ngom in 2015.

Ohio Department of Public Safety Director Andy Wilson directed state investigators to turn the identity-fraud findings over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Ohio and the Delaware County Prosecutor's Office were also notified.

The Soposki family's estate has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Ngom. A woman injured in the crash filed a separate lawsuit alleging negligence led to her injuries.

The trial is ongoing in Delaware County Court of Common Pleas. No timeline for a verdict has been announced.