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HOLTON |
A Lima man who showed no remorse for using a 13-year-old to make drug deals for him was given seven years in prison during hearings Monday in Logan County Common Pleas Court.
Byron Holton, 26, was found guilty during a one-day jury trial last Wednesday of a second-degree felony count of corrupting another with drugs and a fifth-degree felony complicity to trafficking in drugs.
Prosecutors were asking for a six-year sentence because the lack of concern for the boy’s well-being.
“The victim was a 13-year-old boy who was in a position that he did not have a good home life,” Assistant Prosecutor Sarah Warren said. “He had football at his local school, which was his one opportunity to associate with his peers and men, coaches, who were positive influences on his life.
“He has lost all of those things because the defendant chose to prey on this child.”
Judge Mark S. O’Connor, however, tacked an extra year on the prosecutor’s recommendation after listening to the defendant’s justification for his crime.
“I’m not the person everyone is trying to make me out to be,” Mr. Holton said. “I made some bad decisions in my life and I have to live with them.
“I never approached him; he approached me. He made his own decisions and he has got to live with his decisions.”
Judge O’Connor ruled the defendant should serve one year for a parole violation for a previous robbery conviction, five years for the corruption charge and an additional year for the trafficking charge — all to be served consecutively.
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