Defendant Dragged Screaming from Court After Unexpected Sentence!

Thank you, your honor. We are present in the state of Ohio versus Dennis Wel in case number 25 CR 206. The defendant is in court represented by councel. We were last here on May 14th where the defendant pled guilty to count five and count six, both being sexual battery felonies of the third degree. At that time, the court referred the defendant for a pre-sentence report and victim impact statement. Those reports have been completed and the state is prepared to proceed with sentencing. Mr. Watson. Thank you, your honor. May I please the court? Um, I'm going to be brief. This uh this was a heinous crime, judge. This was this was uh horrible in a lot of ways, but most importantly because this was a minor child who almost assurely didn't fully understand what was going on with somebody who was entrusted to love her and to protect her. However, your honor, this is not indicative of who Mr. Welk is as a person. Yes, he has a record. Yes, he has been to prison, but it's mainly in the past been for drug offenses, I believe, some theft offenses. Nothing of this magnitude on this day. And this is this is not an excuse, judge, for his behavior, but on this day, Mr. wealth was drinking a lot, was highly intoxicated, and took advantage of his stepdaughter. He since the day I met him, he is in disbelief that he did this. He has expressed to me his remorse and his sadness and how he hurt her, how he hurt his wife, how he hurt the rest of his family. He knows, your honor, that he's going to be spending a lot of time in jail coming up. I know there's discretion with the plea with how much time that equates to. This court has a lot of discretion with that. Earlier in chambers, the state and I presented to the court a joint recommendation for eight years. I'm going to respectfully ask the court to consider imposing that sentence because I believe Mr. Welk is remorseful. I believe that this is not who he is as a person. And I'm hoping when his time is up and he gets out, which by the way, he's going to be reporting as a sex spender for the rest of his life. So, he's going to be under a microscope. He's going to be monitored for for the rest of his life, but I'm hoping that he'll be able to piece things together, make amends with at least part of his family. I don't know if he can ever make full amends with everybody or not. Uh, and you're going to hear from him in just a minute, your honor. But again, I don't think this is who he is as a person, and I'm going to respectfully ask the court to consider adopting the joint recommendation. Thank you, your honor. All right. You are required to register in person with the sheriff of the county in which you establish a residency within 3 days of coming into that county or if temporarily doiciled for more than 3 days. You are also required to register in person with the sheriff of the county in which you establish a place of education immediately upon coming into that county. If you establish a place of education in another state but maintain a residence or temporary doicile here, you are also required to register in person with the sheriff or other appropriate official in that uh other state immediately upon coming into that state. failure to register, failure to verify residence at the specified times, or failure to provide notice of change in residence address or other required information as described above will result in a criminal prosecution. Mr. uh Watson, if you would present this to Mr. Welk for his acknowledgement and signature. All right, Mr. Wal, what do you want to tell me before I impose sentence? First and foremost, I'd like to apologize to the courts for appearing before them today. I'd like to apologize to the victim in this case. I'm not going to use alcohol or drugs as an excuse for anything. However, alcohol was a main factor in this case, but I take full responsibly for my actions cuz I chose to make the irresponsible decision consuming too much alcohol than I could handle, causing poor, regretful choices leading to my incarceration. I've heard the I've read the police reports and feel ashamed, embarrassed, and hurt cuz that's not the person I am. And I wouldn't be standing here today if I would have just been more responsible. I have four younger children that I've been that I've let down because of being locked away from them. Missing out on watching them grow. Having to deal with that is a heartache alone. The only thing I can do now is work on myself while incarcerated, take advantage of all programs they offer, and become a better man and a better father and not give up doing so. I have to make this my last time in jail, and I plan to. I'm sincerely remorseful to my victim in this case, letting her down when I was supposed to be a father figure in her life. I beat myself up over this every day over this, wishing I could take it all back. I just hope she can grow up in the in life and leave this in the past and that it doesn't affect her future. Again, I'm sorry to everyone I caused pain to in this case. Mr. Ley, thank you, your honor. Uh, one thing that the defendant said today in court and even in his present report that stood out to me is that he was supposed to be a loving and caring father. And I couldn't agree more with that. He should have been someone that the victim could trust and rely on for protection and guidance. And instead, he used his role as a parental figure to manipulate her, exploit her, and violate her. And while there is a jointly recommended sentence here, the state believes it's essential to highlight not only what the defendant did pre-indictment, but also what he did after his arrest in this case. While incarcerated, he continued to communicate with the victim while in the Lake County Jail. He attempted to guilt and manipulate her by blaming her for her own suicide attempt at the East Lake Jail. He pressured her to express her feelings to law enforcement about him, her desire for him to only receive a short sentence. He spoke of wanting to attend counseling together. He emphasized they were a team and told her he loved her despite being her abuser, despite doing what he did here. And during several of these recorded calls, you can hear the victim crying, further illustrating just the ongoing emotional harm caused by the defendant in his conduct. This behavior demonstrates his continued disregard for the well-being of the victim, his family, and his ongoing efforts to control her and manipulate her. The defendant today in court said he's remorseful, but in the pre-sentence report, he didn't believe he did anything wrong and he wants to take this to trial. So, I'm not sure what this court can believe. He has a lengthy criminal history, including four prior prison numbers and five felony cases. And all of this, I think, supports the need for a significant term of incarceration and respectfully asks this court to impose a jointly agreed sentence of eight years. Thank you. Thank you. Why did you call her after you were in jail? Cuz I was told by the detective I was allowed to. Great. I didn't call her. I called my wife and she answered the phone. All right. And what what contact did you have with her about retracting her statement or modifying her statement? It wasn't retracting. It was I was we talked about counseling, going to counseling and stuff cuz that was something that they was talking about making them do and something she said she didn't want to do. Well, that trying to whether directly contacting her or contacting her through your wife was wholly inappropriate. And it was further evidence of you trying to take advantage of her at that young age like you did when this happened. Now she asked the detective if she could have contact with me when I when this case was all started. Then when I went to my preliminary hearing on February 11th, I asked a detective and he told me the same thing. All right. Well, you're experienced enough in the in the system to have the wisdom that you shouldn't have been contacted. Okay. In talking to her, having about anything having to do with this case. So you you've in your statement you say you apologized to her, but then in the uh presense report you talk about how you don't believe you did everything you're accused of doing and wanted to take this to trial. What's that all about? I don't remember what exactly what I said, your honor, but what I was saying was I don't have regulation of what happened the night of. So, I didn't I wasn't admitting to I don't know what happened. So, So, did did you or didn't you do this stuff? Yes. And I And I got to tell you, it doesn't uh doesn't get much worse than than this kind of stuff. You understand? And I would note uh in the record that in 2009 or 2010 you were sentenced to prison on a burglary, released on judicial release, and then returned to prison after a violation of the judicial release and you were released January 7th of 13. You went back to prison on another case on May 1st of 13 and got out in August. Went to uh prison on an attempted burglary, uh trespass and a habitation, breaking and entering June 23 of 16 through August 5 of 18. uh a whole bunch of uh theft offenses between that last prison sentence and where you are today. So, you've had a lifetime of criminal activity, but none worse than what has occurred here. So, I've reviewed the the precent report and a victim impact statement. I've considered what you have said, what council has said, and I've also considered that they've made a joint recommendation of uh of 96 months in prison. And so on count and I've considered all the provisions in 29, 29, 111, 29, 29, 12, 13, and 14. Consideration of all that, on count five, I'm going to sentence you to a term of uh 60 months. On count six, I'm going to sentence you to a term of 60 months that will be consecutive to one another with credit for 143 days. And consecutive sentences are necessary to protect the public from future crime by you and for appropriate out man. Come on man, man. No, man. Get me the [ __ ] out of here, man. Come on. [ __ ] took my flea back, man. Get me the [ __ ] out of here, man. Get me out of here. Get me out of here, man. Get me out of here, little man. Almost done. Get me the [ __ ] out of here. No, man. Get me out of here. Get me out of here, man. What the [ __ ] you mean, [ __ ] Get me the [ __ ] out of here. Man, get me the [ __ ] out of here. Let me get my leg. Get me out of here, man. Just take a minute. Put me on your visiting for jail and [Music] I'm not doing I'm not doing [ __ ] All right. Consecutive sentences are necessary to protect the public from future crime by the defendant and for appropriate punishment and they are uh very proportionate to the seriousness of his conduct and the danger he poses to the public and uh his history of criminal conduct demonstrates that consecutive sentences are necessary to protect the public from future crime by the defendant. Costs are assessed. The remaining charges are dismissed. Anything else from Celelesi? Nana. Thank you, Mr. Watson. Nothing further, your honor. All right, we're journ. All right.