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I want to say bless Alianna DeFreeze from Cleveland Ohio and Stephanie Hunter.
Alianna was only 14 years old when she was abducted , sexually assaulted and killed. And of course her killer turned out to be a sex offender with past convictions for sexual assault. I have been a big critic of the judiciary system in the U.S. and especially of Ohios’. Alianna is a name the general public is probably not familiar with…She is a little black girl and I personally never heard of the case until I read a Columbus Dispatch article about Ohio’s tendency to make laws named after white victims Such as Reagan Toke. Another is Alisha’s law , named after a white woman married to a black man.This article is about the overt absurdity of Ohio’s contradictory philosophy of proclaiming to be tough on violent crime but upon reviewing cases of actual physical violence you will notice when it comes to punishing offenders who commit or inflict horrendous assaults , whether other men or women , they are given relatively light sentences, usually just county jail time or probation. If they are sent to prison it is for only a couple of years but will be let out early if they complete fairly simple programs such as anger management or victim’s awareness. A lot of these guys are glaringly violent individuals with obvious mental health problems. They have histories begining in their teen years with fights and domestic violence , cruelty to animals and destruction of personal or private property. You would not think it would take the insight of a team of criminologists or expert psychologists to advise judges and prosecutors that a good number of these people are capable of extreme violence that could result in homicide. But time after time you hear about tragic stories where some nice woman who is inexplicably trapped in a turbulent relationship with one of these types of men end up murdered. One such unfortunate nice lady was Stephanie Hunter out of Cleveland. There is no law named after her…She is black and was killed by a black man. And when I outline some of the unbelievable circumstances of the leniency shown to her murderer , any rational sane person should be rendered dumbfounded.
First , let me state who Ohio considers dangerous and unfit for society , such as judge Pepples and prosecutor Pierce who reside in the very rural Ohio county of Auglaize. I committed several armed robberies. I’m not about to say these should not be considered violent crimes. But Ohio fails to protect Ohio citizens and waste tax payer monies because they are incapable or unwilling to differentiate between people who merely possess a gun during a crime and people who assault , rape and maim victims , where a theft or drugs are not integral to the crime. I stole money from banks while possessing a gun – that is the very item that extolled me to a whole other category making the difference between doing a reasonable sentence of ten years or one like my sentence of 40 years. I didn’t shoot anyone , I didn’t physically touch anyone or restrain anyone. I didn’t shove the gun in anyones face… I held it in my hand. So the judge concocted some imaginary hypothetical scenario saying a off duty officer could have come in and people could have been shot… Register that in your mind as you read about what this guy who killed this poor woman Stephanie Hunter did and what Ohio’s legal system did – or did not do , and the weighting factor that sent me without hesitation, to prison for life for a hypothetical scenario. Ohio is full of incidents where robbery , burglary or drugs get people incarcerated for decades while sex offenders preying on innocent children and women or the elderly , and men that viciously beat , stab , strangle or shoot someone get short sentences that allow for headlines that read ” the suspect was just recently released from prison for a similar crime” or ” has a history of assault for beating his girlfriends ”
In the case of Stephanie Hunter she had obtained a restraint order stating that Brandon Ivy beat and bruised her , destroyed the Powell apartment they shared and had thrown a bucket off water on her a she slept and constantly threatened her family. He broke her phone and refused to let her out of the room – now in Auglaize county I was charged with two counts of kidnapping and sentenced to 16 years for those charges , for directing some employees to walk to a back room – so here is a case where a violently abusive man has now committed a “violent” version of kidnapping, but as you will see the judge feels he’s an alright guy and refuses to even give him county jail time. This is just a shocking and sickening display of a judge acting irresponsibly. Keep in mind the judge is aware that Hunter made the statement she was afraid for her life. Already this Ivy man gave the state the chance to put him in prison for at least 8 years for the kidnapping , not to mention all the physical beatings she had sustained. She told the Deleware county magistrate Terrie Clinger that Brandon Ivy continued to violate the restraining order but they refused to arrest him.
A prosecutor ( probably the only time I have rooted for a prosecutor ) actually pleaded with the judge to send him to prison but judge David Gormely sentenced him to community control on ” reduced ” charges of burglary and violating a protection order – Charges of abduction and assault were dismissed. This happens time again – But Ohio is supposed to be tough on violent crime – however , carrying a gun is what they mean , not viciously beating and holding your companion hostage. I implore anyone reading this to take action against this nonsense – especially women. This should not be tolerated. Ivy ended up strangling Stephanie to death soon after…The use of violence is in your hands – use it if need be. Learn how to shoot ladies , and protect yourselves.

Travis Smith
DOC #529433