CANTON Large photos of a happy and vibrant Kerry-Anne Mumford were shown to the man who killed her and dumped her body in a creek.
The adult daughter of the 41-year-old Mumford wanted Scott A. Birch to be forced to confront cheerful photographs of the woman whose life he brutally ended.
During the Birch s sentencing hearing on Friday, Stark County Assistant Prosecutor Dennis Barr displayed the images in front of a video monitor linked to the Stark County Jail, where the defendant stood with his attorney.
The Massillon woman was a daughter, girlfriend, mother of three children. She was cherished by those who sat in Stark County Common Pleas Court, expressing both the great loss they are suffering as well as anger toward Birch.
CANTON Judge Chryssa Hartnett paused during the sentencing hearing of a Nimishillen Township man Wednesday who pleaded guilty to child rape charges.
Hartnett aimed her words at Robert E. Lee, 51, whom she sentenced to 20 years in prison in Stark County Common Pleas Court. I listened to it come out of your own mouth (in statements to police) . I heard you admit the unspeakable things that you did, she said. . This is not a child making an accusation, this is a child finally having enough, bringing it to adults attention and the perpetrator acknowledging it.
Lee pleaded guilty to three charges of rape, two counts of gross sexual imposition and single counts of sexual battery and illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material or performance.
CANTON Foreclosure filings plummeted last year in Stark County, echoing pandemic-fueled trends nationally.
In 2019, a total of 1,016 foreclosure filings were recorded in Stark County Common Pleas Court before plunging to 331 last year, with 273 of those occurring in the first eight months of 2020, according to figures provided by Stark Common Pleas administrator Dwaine Hemphill.
Nationally, foreclosure filings default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions were reported on 214,323 properties across the country, down 57% from 2019 and 93% from a peak of nearly 2.9 million in 2010, the lowest level since tracking began in 2004, according to a report issued by ATTOM Data Solutions, parent company of RealtyTrac, which tracks foreclosure listings.
A visiting judge in Stark County Probate Court approved the legal agreement this week.
Mark and Krystin Dailey, whose son was the school wrestler named in the lawsuit, filed the complaint in December 2019 in Stark County Common Pleas Court.
Probate court was involved because a minor is among the three plaintiffs in the case.
The $125,000 will be paid by the defendants as compensation and for the pain and suffering of the boy and his family, as well as for attorney fees, court records said.
Funds will be divided three ways, with $41,647 awarded to the parents; $41,647 for the boy and not accessible until age 18; and $41,662 designated for attorney fees.
CANTON A woman who admitted punishing a young girl by locking her in a dog cage received a maximum three-year prison term for child endangering.
She also received a blistering lecture from the judge for rolling her eyes and grinning as she was sentenced.
Lillian Cottrell, 29, of Canton, admitted to the third-degree felony charge at a hearing Monday in Stark County Common Pleas Court. You have dishonored the word `mother, Judge Frank Forchione said, describing the child abuse as disgusting.
Watching the defendant on a video monitor, broadcast in the courtroom from the Stark County Jail, he suddenly chided her.