The Knox County Prosecutor’s office has successfully defended an appeal of a three-year mandatory sentence by Clifford Koch, a sex offender with multiple convictions for failure to register.
The Fifth District Court of Appeals stated that Ohio’s sex offender registration law requires a minimum sentence of three years for repeat failures to register.
Koch’s appeal had argued that the three years was a maximum sentence, and was cruel and unusual.
“The Appeals Court came down squarely on our side,” said Prosecutor McConville. “Sex offenders who have multiple failures to register in Knox County can expect to serve at least three years in prison.”
McConville wrote the appellate brief, and Assistant Prosecutor David Merrell represented the State at oral argument before the Court.
