Sex offender gets out of prison early

A probation violation means finishing the prison term, a judge warned.

STAFF REPORT

YOUNGSTOWN — With five months remaining in his one-year prison sentence, a 30-year-old Canfield man, who was convicted of sexually assaulting an intoxicated woman after she passed out, has been granted judicial release and put on three years’ probation with strict conditions.

On Wednesday, Judge John M. Durkin of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court released Martin Eberth IV of Herbert Road, who had been an inmate at the Madison Correctional Institution in London, Ohio.

Eberth was charged with carrying the victim out of Styx bar on South Meridian Road in Austintown and sexually assaulting her in a car, where the victim’s friends found her with Eberth, who had his pants down.

Police said that the victim, a 31-year-old Austintown woman, was naked and unconscious when they arrived and that she had no recall of the April 17, 2004, assault.

Last October, Judge Durkin convicted Eberth of sexual battery after a nonjury trial and gave him the minimum one-year prison sentence.

Eberth’s lawyer, John B. Juhasz, who sought Eberth’s release, said his client’s offense was “pure alcohol driven” and that both Eberth and the victim were “highly intoxicated’’ when Eberth committed his crime.

Juhasz said that Eberth’s employer will rehire him and that Eberth has a strong family support network and is willing to undergo alcohol rehabilitation.

The victim told the judge, however, “It would be a slap in the face to me if he got out early. ... I didn’t get one ounce of remorse from him for what he did to me.”

Also opposing judicial release was Natasha K. Frenchko, assistant county prosecutor, who called Eberth’s crime “reprehensible and frightening.”

As conditions of his probation, Judge Durkin ordered Eberth to undergo an evaluation, complete any alcohol and drug treatment the evaluation finds necessary, attend recovery support group meetings, and submit to “random and frequent” urine and breath tests.

The judge also barred him from drinking alcohol or having any contact with the victim.

Any probation violation will result in Eberth’s completing the remaining five months of his prison term, the judge warned.

Eberth, who said he plans to get married, stay out of bars and “get this all behind me,” must annually register as a sex offender with the county sheriff for 15 years.