AUSTINTOWN TWP., Ohio - A New Jersey trucker will be sentenced in July after being convicted on a charge filed after his tractor-trailer crossed into the oncoming lanes of Interstate 80 in Austintown, plowing into a pickup truck, and killing the driver.

Davit Pluidze, who turns 54 later this month, appeared before a judge in Austintown Monday and pleaded “no contest” to misdemeanor vehicular homicide.

According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, Pluidze was driving a tractor-trailer east on the morning of December 5 when it crashed through the median barrier and ran into a Ram pickup coming in the opposite lanes.

The pickup struck a guardrail, ejecting the driver, 25-year-old Zackery Leffler of Burlington, Kentucky. Leffler was killed in the crash, which snarled traffic along the interstate.

The tractor-trailer rolled over an embankment.

A July 1 court date is scheduled for sentencing and victim impact statements.

Pluidze could have his Commercial Drivers License suspended for up to five years.