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Moore returns to court on 2001 rape, resentencing to take place this year
By Justin Wier
YOUNGSTOWN
A man who was sentenced to more than 100 years in 2002 for a rape he committed as a 15-year-old appeared again Monday before Judge R. Scott Krichbaum in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
A ruling by the Ohio Supreme Court sent the case of Brandon Moore, now 31, back to Mahoning County Common Pleas Court for resentencing, which Judge Krichbaum said he intends to do within 30 days.
A 2016 decision by the state Supreme Court ruled that sentencing a juvenile convicted of a nonhomicide offense to a sentence that exceeds his or her life expectancy constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.
The decision drew on the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision Graham v. Florida, which determined life sentences for juveniles convicted of nonhomicide offenses are cruel and unusual.
The Ohio Supreme Court decision did not prescribe a sentence for Moore, which Judge Krichbaum struggled with at Monday’s hearing.
The court ruled that Moore must receive the opportunity for release within his expected lifespan.
Since Ohio no longer allows early release through parole, Judge Krichbaum said his options are imposing a sentence that would grant Moore definite release during his lifetime or allow an opportunity for judicial release.
“The dilemma I have is I already determined what the appropriate sentence in this case should be,” the judge said.
He added that Moore and his co-defendants imposed a life sentence on the victim.
The victim plans to speak at the sentencing, prosecutors said, but was unable to be at Monday’s hearing, which is one reason the sentencing will take place at a later date.
Judge Krichbaum also questioned the need to treat the cases of juveniles bound over to common pleas courts as adults differently from adults, despite there being no Ohio law requiring such a distinction.
Defense attorney Lynn Maro, who represents Moore, noted there has been a significant change in how the criminal justice system treats juvenile offenders in the 15 years since Judge Krichbaum sentenced Moore.
“I intend to resentence him in accordance with the law,” Judge Krichbaum said. “I shouldn’t say law because there is no such law. I have to resentence him in accordance with the Supreme Court.”
While Moore did not kill anyone, Judge Krichbaum nonetheless considers Moore’s actions “unprecedented” and “horrific.”
In 2001, Moore and three others kidnapped a 21-year-old woman, and Moore and another male brutally raped her at gunpoint.
At one point, the victim told Moore and the others she was pregnant in an attempt to stop the rape, but they continued.
In her testimony at trial, the victim said: “They killed a part of me. They killed a part of my soul that I can never get back.”
Judge Krichbaum initially sentenced Moore to a 141-year prison term, ruling that Moore “[could not] be rehabilitated, that it would be a waste of time and money and common sense to even give it a try.”
On appeal, the sentence was reduced to 112 years.