Prosecutor: Verdicts to lock up child rapist
Cline could be sentenced to between 10 years and life in prison.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The prosecutor in the James L. Cline Jr. rape and gross sexual imposition trial says eight guilty verdicts put an "unbelievably dangerous person" behind bars where he cannot hurt more young girls.
"This is the kind of person who needs to be isolated from society," said Mike Burnett, assistant Trumbull County prosecutor, after a Trumbull County Common Pleas Court jury found Cline guilty Monday on all counts -- three of rape and five counts of gross sexual imposition.
Cline, who also made news for briefly getting loose from deputies on his way back to the county jail Thursday, could get a jail sentence of as much as 55 years to life when he comes back for sentencing in several weeks.
Burnett said he will argue for Cline, 32, of Forest Avenue Northwest, to receive consecutive sentences rather than have them served at the same time. The least amount of prison time Cline could receive is 10 years, Burnett said.
As Judge John M. Stuard read the jury's eight guilty verdicts, Cline stood with his head down, shaking his head as if to say "no."
"He already understands this is only the first step," said his defense attorney, Jeff Goodman, who said he plans to file a number of motions before sentencing to have the conviction overturned.
About the crimes
Two of Cline's convictions were for life rape, meaning that he could get 10 years to life in prison on each count. Those were for assaults with a gun on Niles girls age 11 and 12 near Kennedy Park on July 2, 2005.
Cline was also convicted of raping a 15-year-old Warren girl on railroad tracks between Woodland and East Market streets while she was walking home from Warren G. Harding High School on Sept. 8, 2005. He could get three to 10 years in prison for that crime, which involved the use of a knife.
The other attacks were on a 13-year-old and a 14-year-old girl Sept. 13 and 14, 2005, in Warren. In all of the cases, Cline fondled his victims, which is why he was charged with gross sexual imposition, Burnett said.
Burnett said he would also ask the court that Cline be labeled a sexual predator.
Burnett added that Cline was an especially dangerous criminal because there was very little pattern to his attacks. He attacked in different communities, girls of different races, in well-traveled places and in broad daylight -- where victims would let their guard down.
The only similarities were that he attacked young girls and that he committed three of the five attacks in almost identical fashion: threatening his victims with a weapon, making them strip and ordering them to bend over.
Sexual intercourse was not alleged, Burnett said. The three rape charges were for digital rape, he said.
runyan@vindy.com