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Austintown man collapses during sentencing for rape
YOUNGSTOWN
A 38-year-old man standing before a judge suddenly collapsed to the courtroom floor seconds after the judge sentenced him to prison for 15 years for raping a teenage girl.
The defendant, David T. Adams, of New Road, Austintown, was seen in the courtroom Friday by a doctor and an ambulance crew after the bailiff and sheriff’s deputies cleared the courtroom of spectators.
A few minutes later, Judge John M. Durkin, of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, resumed the hearing with Adams seated at the defense table and told Adams he’ll have to register quarterly with the sheriff as a sex offender for the rest of his life after prison.
Deputies then removed Adams from the courtroom in handcuffs.
Adams, who maintained his innocence, had earlier entered an Alford plea to eight counts of raping the girl in Austintown between 2007 and 2009, while she was between age 15 and 17.
In an Alford plea, the defendant does not admit his guilt but agrees that, if the case were to go to trial, there would be sufficient evidence that a jury could find him guilty.
Saying Adams entered his plea “knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily,” the judge overruled a defense motion to let Adams withdraw his plea and go to trial and overruled a defense motion to stay the sentence pending appeal.
Defense lawyer Dominic Leone said the sentence will be appealed, and a stay will be sought from the 7th District Court of Appeals.
Although Adams could have gone to prison for up to 80 years, the judge adopted the recommendation of Meghan Brundege, an assistant county prosecutor, for a 15-year prison term.
“David Adams is a liar, a manipulator, a bully and a parasite on society,” the tearful mother of the victim told Judge Durkin in a victim-impact statement before the judge imposed the sentence.
“The fear and the shame in her eyes when she told me what he had done is burned in my mind forever,” the victim’s mother said, calling for “a punishment that is commensurate to the damage that he has caused.”
Adams will be on parole for five years after he leaves prison.