A portion of the prison sentence of a Toledo man for his role in the armed robbery and beating of an elderly couple in 2009 has been vacated by the Ohio Sixth District Court of Appeals.

The court ruled charges of aggravated burglary and grand theft against Ronald Ruby, Jr. should have been merged during his sentencing hearing in the Sandusky County Court of Common Pleas.

Ruby, along with two other men, was convicted for the July 2009 break-in of the rural Gibsonburg home of James and Mary Kohler. The Kohlers, who were both in their 70s, were beaten while they slept and then tied up. Money and more than 30 firearms of a collection Mr. Kohler owned were reported stolen.

The Sandusky County Grand Jury issued a 43-count indictment against Ruby. But after he withdrew an initial plea of not guilty and pled guilty to two counts of attempted murder, one count of kidnapping, one count of aggravated burglary with a firearm specification, and one count of grand theft of a firearm, prosecutors agreed to dismiss the remaining charges.

The commons pleas court in May 2010 sentenced Ruby to 10 years for each attempted murder charge, to be served consecutively; 10 years for kidnapping and aggravated burglary, to be served concurrently to each other and to the attempted murder sentences, and a one-year term for the firearm specification to be served consecutively to the attempted murder sentences. The court also imposed a one-year sentence for grand theft.

The court didn’t specifically say the one-year sentence for grand theft would run consecutive to the attempted murder counts but did state the total sentence was 22 years.

In his appeal, Ruby argued the trial court should have found the offenses were “…a single course of conduct, and merged all counts for sentencing.”

The appeals court ruled that only the aggravated burglary and grand theft charges should have been merged but not with the attempted murder charges.

“The theft of firearms and money was the purpose and grand incidence of the burglary, and only those items were taken from the residence,” the appeals court wrote. “The attempted murders and the two allied theft offenses were not committed with the same animus. The facts of this case indicate that the animus for the beatings was to cause the death of the Kohlers.”

The appeals court ordered a new sentencing hearing.

The court recently upheld the sentence of Jimmy Houston, Woodville, who is described in court records as the planner of the break-in.

Paul Biddwell, Fostoria, was also convicted.

The appeals court rejected Ruby’s argument he was represented by ineffective counsel and that his sentence violated state law because “any danger [he] might pose [to society] would be abated when he reaches his fifties.” It also rejected his argument his sentence violated proportionality rules.

“Moreover, even if we were inclined to test consistency and proportionality by comparing the sentences in this case, we could not conclude that the trial court abused its discretion in failing to impose a shorter aggregate sentence on appellant than it imposed on his co-defendants. With respect to the beatings, appellant stood in no better sentencing position than his co-defendants. It appears from the record at sentencing that each defendant denied a role in the beatings and blamed one or more of the others,” the court said.

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed