Here’s a look at recent courtroom moments in Butler County when victim families spoke directly to convicted criminals and judges.
‘I want her to haunt you’
Anson Pride was charged with aggravated murder, felonious assault, aggravated arson, aggravated burglary and tampering with evidence in the Aug. 14 death of death of Jamaka Calhoun on Lind Street.
Last week, Pride pleaded guilty in Butler County Common Pleas Court to aggravated murder and aggravated arson, both with specifications that he is a repeat violent offender.
Calhoun’s sister, who sobbed during her statement, told the court her niece asked to visit her mother’s gravesite after a soccer game on Saturday to tell her mom how well she has done.
“You can’t apologize. You never knew her,” she said. “She was an awesome person, she was a great mother. She was somebody I looked up to. She was my mentor. You are guilty, you are very guilty because that was an innocent life that you know nothing about.”
She told Pride that Calhoun was a “sweet, pure soul. I want her to haunt you.”
‘He is scary and manipulative’
A Middletown man was sentenced to five years in prison in February 2020 after admitting to sexual conduct with a teen.
During a lengthy, emotional sentencing hearing in Butler County Common Pleas Court, William Powell cried as he offered an apology, and the victim sobbed in the front row of the courtroom. Others, including three women who prosecutors say were also victims of Powell as minors, clutched tissues and hugged each other.
The victim he was convicted of assaulting quickly read a statement standing just a few feet from the shackled Powell. Because of Powell’s sexual abuse, the woman says she now lacks self-esteem. She said she remembers seeing his “sinister face” as a child.
“He is scary and manipulative. He was creepy,” the victim said.
A second woman spoke about abuse she said she endured while a minor and a member of a softball team Powell coached. Powell was not convicted of crimes involving this victim.
“He has hurt me in ways I don’t fully understand,” the woman said. Mr. Powell the jig is up … I want him to suffer, I want him to go to prison."
‘My daughter has to suffer for the rest of her life’
A Hamilton man was sentenced to life in prison in January 2020 in Butler County Common Pleas Court for raping a child and filming that child in a sex act.
Judge Charles Pater sentenced Johnanthony Boyd to life in prison with possibility of parole after 15 years.
The victim’s mother spoke before sentencing, but the victim was not in courtroom.
“My daughter has to suffer for the rest of her life … he has to too,” said the sobbing mother of the victim.
Lisa Boyd, Boyd’s mother, who also sobbed during the hearing, asked for the minimum sentence for her son.
“There is no winning in this case,” Lisa Boyd told the judge, “I don’t believe him to be evil …. this is not him.”
‘We lost a preciously little 3-month-old who didn’t have a chance to ask for help’
A Hamilton mother was sentenced to prison in November 2019 for the death of her infant who was smothered when she rolled over on her while asleep after drug usage.
Saralin Walden pleaded guilty last month to involuntary manslaughter for the death of 3-month-old Rae’Anna on Oct. 23, 2018. A charge of child endangering was dismissed.
Emotional statements were also given by grandmothers on both sides.
Judy Walden, Walden’s grandmother, said Walden’s 3-year-old daughter wants her mother to come home.
“Sara’s not a bad girl, she just got caught up in the drugs,” Judy Walden said. “I just don’t want to see her locked up for years and see her be away from her family.”
Kim Cramer, maternal grandmother of Rae’Anna, said Walden didn’t make much effort to be a mother.
“If Sara does stay out, it scares me for her other child,” Cramer said, added Walden had several chances to get treatment and didn’t. “We lost a preciously little 3-month-old who didn’t have a chance to ask for help.”
‘You do not know how much you hurt me and my family’
A Middletown man was sentenced to 48 months in prison in May 2019 after earlier admitting to recklessly operating his vehicle last summer in a crash that killed a Rumpke worker.
Brian Jankovich pleaded guilty in March to aggravated vehicular homicide, a third-degree felony, which is a lesser charge than the original indictment. Jankovich faced a maximum of five years in prison.
Butler County Judge Greg Stephens' courtroom was packed for Jankovich’s sentencing. Many, including Jankovich and his wife, Jeanie, cried waiting for the hearing to begin. Family members of the victim, David J. Evans, were also there.
“You do not know how much you hurt me and my family on July 18, 2018 when you took my husband, David, from my life,” said Kelly Evans, David’s wife.
She said Jankovich was careless when he got behind the wheel.
Kelly Evans said her husband was her life and love and “the kindest guy” who was involved in volunteer work in church and a Cincinnati area high school.
Kelly Evans said her husband knew his customers by name, and they knew him. Some stood in line for hours at his funeral to say goodbye, she said.
“There is not a day that goes by that I (don’t) wish I had one more day to see him … and say I love you,” she said.
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