Lake Twp: Prison sentence upheld in pandering, kidnapping case

The Ohio Sixth District Court of Appeals has upheld the prison sentence for a former Walbridge resident who had been indicted for kidnapping and pandering sexually-oriented material involving a minor or impaired person.
After pleading guilty, Keith B. Perry, III, was sentenced in Wood County Common Pleas Court in 2019 under the then recently passed Reagan Tokes Law.
In his appeal, Perry argued the law violates the doctrine of separation of powers and due process rights afforded him under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the Ohio Constitution.
In particular, he is challenging the section of the law which gives the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections the authority to extend his prison term beyond his presumptive minimum term of 28 years to as much as 32 years.
The law requires a sentencing court in such cases to set a minimum term and a maximum term as determined by statute and then also sets a presumption the offender “shall be released from service of the sentence on the expiration of the offender’s minimum prison term or on the offender’s presumptive earned early release date, whichever is earlier.”
The offender’s presumptive earned early release date is determined under a section of the Ohio Revised Code which allows the sentencing court to reduce the minimum term under certain circumstances. But the ODRC may rebut the presumption if it determines at a hearing that certain statutory factors apply, including the convicted person continues to pose a threat to society or his or her conduct while incarcerated compromised the safety and security of correctional staff and the institution.
The department can extend the minimum term or early release date but not past the maximum prison term.
Because Perry hasn’t served his minimum term yet, he isn’t subject to the sentencing provisions of the law and the ODRC’s possible role in challenging his sentence, the appeals court ruled.
“This court has recently held that the constitutionality of the Reagan Tokes law is not ripe for review where the appellant’s imprisonment term has not yet been extended by the ODRC,” the court wrote.
Another case heard by the sixth district appeals court and centered on the issue of whether it is suitable for review is pending before the Ohio Supreme Court.
Reagan Tokes was an Ohio State University student who was abducted, raped, and murdered on 2017 while leaving work late one evening. The man convicted of her murder was on parole for a rape conviction at the time of her death, and committed aggravated robberies in the weeks prior to her murder.
Perry was arrested in June 2019 after Lake Township police were called to the Eastpointe on the Mall subdivision on a report of a possible abduction of a 10-year-old girl.