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NORMAN BYLER MOLESTATION CASE

Byler headed for prison

Rick Stillion
The Daily Jeffersonian

A 69-year-old Amish man convicted of sexual battery for his actions with three granddaughters will serve time in prison after Guernsey County Common Pleas Court Judge David A. Ellwood rejected part of a negotiated plea agreement Tuesday and denied Norman Byler Community Control Sanctions (probation).

The judge sentenced Byler to five years in prison on each of the five sexual battery convictions, all third-degree felonies, with the sentences to be served concurrently in accordance with the plea agreement.

“The defendant (Byler) has shown no genuine remorse toward the victims in this case, and has only said he was sorry because he may be locked up,” said Ellwood in announcing the sentence. “The defendant doesn’t acknowledge he has done anything wrong with his actions to the victims.

“The court finds it cannot rehabilitate the defendant if he doesn’t acknowledge he has done anything wrong. The primary role of the sentence must then be to punish the offender and protect the community. The court would violate the duties of the judge and rules of sentencing if it were to sentence Mr. Byler different than other defendants. The court must look past his religion (Amish). Therefore, the court finds the appropriate sentence is imprisonment.”

The five-year prison sentences for each conviction was the maximum sentence faced by Byler on each count, although the judge could have ordered the sentences to be served consecutively for 25 years of incarceration.

“To sentence the defendant to the shortest term would demean the seriousness of the crimes,” said the judge. “The longest term is only used if it is the worst form of the crime. The court finds the multiple crimes on the defendant’s youthful granddaughters is the worst form of the crime.”

Ellwood left the door open for treatment at a later date, if Byler is willing to accept responsibility for his actions and demonstrate genuine remorse for his victims, who were ages 3, 5 and 8 at the time of the incidents.

He was given 678 days credit for time he has already served in the Guernsey County jail or Twin Valley Psychiatric Hospital in Columbus.

Guernsey County Prosecutor C. Keith Plummer and defense counsel Diane Menashe, of the Ohio Public Defenders Office in Columbus, had recommended the five-year prison sentence and Community Control Sanctions in order for Byler to receive treatment at the Volunteers of America Program in Mansfield.

“We are satisfied with the outcome,” said Plummer. “It is only a recommendation, and the court is not bound by a recommendation. The court felt it was inappropriate to consider Community Control Sanctions at this time and chose to impose the prison sentence. We have no quarrel with that sentence.”

Menashe said she plans to file a motion to withdraw Byler’s negotiated plea as a result of the judge’s decision to sentence him to prison.

“I don’t think my client understands what is happening to him, and he has not understood from the beginning,” said Menashe. “I intend to withdraw the guilty plea, because I don’t think the prosecutor can prove the case due to the problems with evidence in this case.

“We agreed to the negotiated plea because a trial would be a big risk for my client, and the negotiated plea called for my client to get treatment, which I felt was appropriate. Now that the Community Control Sanctions have not been imposed, he is not going to get the treatment he needs.”

Prior to announcing Byler’s sentence, the court declared him a “sexual predator” against the argument of Menashe, who requested he be categorized a “sexually oriented offender.”

With the sexual predator designation, Byler will be required to report to authorities in the area where he lives every 90 days for the rest of his life after he is released from prison. As a sexually oriented offender, Byler would have been required to report once a year for 10 years.