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Prosecutor: Office, victim opposed to release of child rapist

By Ed Runyan

Thursday, December 29, 2011

By Ed Runyan

runyan@vindy.com

WARREN

The Trumbull County Prosecutor’s office continues to oppose parole for David Lockney, a former Lordstown man serving four life sentences for repeatedly raping his daughter when she was 6 and 7 years old in 1986 and 1987.

The victim spoke to the Ohio Parole Board in 2002, the last time Lockney was considered for parole, and she “still strongly opposes” his release, county Prosecutor Dennis Watkins said in a recent letter to the parole board.

A tentative date of Jan. 18 has been set for a hearing with at least five board members, said Carlo LoParo, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

If the board recommends Lockney’s release, the victim and others will be notified, and the victim, prosecutor and other interested parties would be notified so they could attend a full board hearing at a later date.

Watkins said he hopes the woman, now 32, won’t have to talk to the parole board again. But she is prepared to speak if the board decides to have a full board hearing in the case, he said.

Lockney, 56, has served 24 years of a prison sentence of 10 years to life. He pleaded guilty to four counts of rape, each carrying a possible life prison sentence, and one count of attempted rape. He admitted to the offenses and was convicted.

“What Lockney did repeatedly to [the victim] and the sheer magnitude of the intentional violence on her little body parts was so horrific that words cannot serve to give a true explanation of the pain and suffering [she] endured,” Watkins wrote.

The rapes took place from August 1986 to February 1987.

When the girl complained at school of feeling sick in 1987 while in the first grade, a relative took her to a hospital, where she was treated for 16 days for the injuries and sexually transmitted diseases she received during the assaults.

Watkins notes in the letter that Ohio law now allows for a sentence of life in prison without parole for someone committing the type of crimes Lockney committed.

That sentencing option wasn’t available in 1987 when Lockney was convicted.

“We oppose any release of this man during his lifetime. Would you want this man living next to your grandchildren?” Watkins said at the time of Lockney’s last parole hearing in 2002.