Bill would increase sentences for crimes against children

By Marc Kovac

The new law would add five years to a conviction.

COLUMBUS — Individuals who hurt young children would face additional mandatory prison time, under a law change being considered in the Ohio House.

House Bill 182 is named Destiny’s Law, after a 16-month-old girl who was violently shaken by her mother’s boyfriend and left with life-threatening injuries and continued care and rehabilitation for severe vision and hearing loss and developmental issues.

“No family should ever have to go through what ours has,” Randi Shepherd, mother of Destiny, told the House’s Criminal Justice Committee on Wednesday. “Watching an independent toddler return to being an infant in a matter of seconds. This has devastated us financially, emotionally and physically.”

House Bill 182, sponsored by Rep. Robert Hackett, a Republican from London, would add at least five years to the sentences of anyone convicted of assaulting or endangering children younger than 5 years old.

Under current law, those individuals face sentences of two to eight years, said Andy Wilson, an assistant prosecutor from Clark County.

“In effect, under the current law, these small children are given a life-sentence when their abusers face a maximum sentence of eight years,” Wilson said. “The criminal who forever changed Destiny Shepherd’s life will be out of prison before Destiny is 10 years old.”

He added, “Certainly, an eight-year sentence for a criminal who causes permanent brain damage to a 1-year-old child is not equitable or just.”

mkovac@dixcom.com