Judge: Man is a menace to society

COSHOCTON − Judge Robert Batchelor called a Coshocton man a menace to society as he was sentenced on rape charges Thursday in Coshocton County Common Pleas Court.

Michael A. Smith Jr., 45, was indicted in May with three counts of rape, first-degree felonies, for incidents from April 20, 2019, to April 11, 2022. The minor victim was between the ages of 9 to 13 at the time. Smith was arrested by the Coshocton County Sheriff's Office on April 20. A pre-sentence investigation stated Smith used his fingers to pernetrate the victim.

Smith entered guilty pleas to the charges on Nov. 14. Part of plea negotiations was to amend the charges to remove language that the victim was less than 13-years-old at the time of the incidents. The state also agreed to recommend a prison term of 10 to 15 years for each charge to be served consecutively and to not oppose a pre-sentence investigation.

Batchelor sentenced Smith to 10 to 15 years in prison for each count to be served consecutively for an aggregate term of 30 to 35 years in prison with the minimum term mandatory. Smith was granted 213 days of credit for local incarceration and must serve a mandatory 5 years of post release control when out of prison. He must also register as a Tier III sex offender with a child victim classification for life.

Attorney Zachuary Meranda argued for the time to be served concurrently based on Smith's age and underlying mental health issues. Meranda said Smith suffered sexual abuse as a child. Additionally, Smith was remorseful for his actions and taking responsibility for them by accepting a plea deal and not forcing a trial where the victim would have to testify.

"I fell into a vicious cycle and that's not the kind of person I am. I apologize to everyone I affected. I never meant to hurt anybody," Smith said in court.

Prosecutor Jason Given found Smith's comments repugnant and called him a predator due to a previous felony sex offense on his record.

"For him to sit here and say 'this wasn't really my fault and I didn't mean to hurt anybody and I cared for the child' is so beyond the pale I don't even know how quite to address it," Given stated.

He went onto say the 30 years minimum sentence was "what the victim deserves, what the public deserves and, quite frankly, what Mr. Smith deserves."

Relatives of the victim were in court, but did not speak. Batchelor read from statements they made in the pre-sentence investigation noting how the child was impacted by the crimes.

This included the girl having a tendency to breakdown and sob for 20 to 30 minutes at a time, having a fear of men and being alone, subject to angry outbursts and is always asking if her clothing is appropriate because she doesn't want to look trashy and feels people are constantly looking at her. She's always trying to control everyone and everything around her as a way of protecting herself.

"Both victim impact statements reflect something that's absolutely clear here. Mr. Smith, you stole her childhood from her," Batchelor told the defendant.

He considered the harm caused to the victim in the sentencing along with Smith's felony criminal history. He was convicted of domestic violence in 2003 and two counts of gross sexual imposition in 2011 in Knox County, with the time served concurrently. He was required to register as a Tier II sex offender and in 2018 was convicted of failure to update his address as part of the sex offender classification.

Batchelor also read remarks in the pre-sentence investigation from Smith that he was using sexual release as a drug, like alcohol, due to his mental illness. Then he said he would never do anything to hurt a child.

"Clearly, there's a misunderstanding here," Batchelor said. "When you say you don't want to hurt anybody, you don't understand your actions which constituted three counts of rape and caused serious physical harm to another human being."

Leonard Hayhurst is a community content coordinator and general news reporter for the Coshocton Tribune with more than 15 years of local journalism experience and multiple awards from the Ohio Associated Press. He can be reached at 740-295-3417 or llhayhur@coshoctontribune.com. Follow him on Twitter at @llhayhurst.

This article originally appeared on Coshocton Tribune: Judge: Man is a menace to society