Before a packed courtroom, Judge Kevin P. Braig of the Logan County Court of Appeals Thursday sentenced Dana Soma to one year of community control on her conviction of child endangering, a felony of the third degree.
Previously, Judge Braig sentenced her husband, Paul Soma, to nine years in in prison on multiple sex offense convictions.
Logan County Prosecutor Sarah Warren represented the State of Ohio and recommended the court include a term of incarceration as part of Mrs. Soma’s sentence. The victims of the crimes disagreed with that recommendation. Numerous others contacted the Court and sought mercy for Mrs. Soma.
The court’s pre-sentence investigator assigned a very low risk score to Mrs. Soma. The risk score is a quantitative tool used to assess the likelihood that a defendant will commit additional future crime.
Local defense counsel Marc Triplett of Bellefontaine represented Mrs. Soma at the hearing. In his sentencing memorandum, Mr. Triplett stated Mrs. Soma was “devastated” by the news of her husband’s conduct.
“She confesses that she made a ‘terrible error,’” Mr. Triplett wrote, “and that she longs for the time when she can begin the process or reparation.”
She also stated she felt “the deepest sadness and remorse over the abundance of extra trauma” her crime “piled on” the victims and her parents, siblings, friends, church, and community,” according to Mr. Triplett.
The court observed that Mrs. Soma’s demeanor during the sentencing hearing reflected the words of her attorney and the statements of others corroborated the Court’s finding that Mrs. Soma showed genuine remorse.
The court arrived at the sentence after considering the purposes and principles of sentencing, finding the victims suffered serious psychological and emotional harm and that Mrs. Soma’s relationship to the victims facilitated the offenses.
But, the court also found that Mrs. Soma’s expressed agony left no reason to sentence her to a term of incarceration.
Further, the court found Mrs. Soma had no prior criminal convictions and that her offense occurred under circumstances unlikely to reoccur with Mr. Soma serving a prison sentence.