Wood County Prosecuting Attorney Paul Dobson announced Thursday (9/26) that Gregory Scott Kamer Jr., 38, was convicted of rape, a first-degree felony, and sentenced to eight years in prison for sexually assaulting the daughter of an ex-girlfriend.
The sentence was a joint recommendation by both the prosecution and the defendant, with the agreement of the victim’s family. Kamer had previously been found guilty by a Wood County jury of four counts of rape of a minor and sentenced to four consecutive life terms in prison.
That jury verdict was thrown out by the Sixth District Court of Appeals in Toledo, which found that testimony of investigators identifying what the victim had told them about Kamer’s assaults should not have been admitted at trial. They also found that testimony of a second child, who testified that Kamer had attacked her in similar fashion, should not have been used to demonstrate that he had committed the acts in question.
“The result of this case is far less than we wanted and far less than he deserves,” said Dobson. “Unfortunately, between the decision of the court of appeals which would have required us to put that little girl back in front of a jury and the other evidentiary problems their decision created, we were forced to seek a different resolution. Kamer was willing to make that victim get back up on the stand again. Somebody besides her mother had to protect her from the revictimization this would have caused.”
“We appreciate the work of the investigators, the children services workers, and medical staff, all of whom supported this case,” Dobson said. “Most of all, we are humbled by the courage of a heroic girl, who disclosed what happened to her, testified to 12 strangers, and was willing to go through it again. We hope that the prison sentence and Kamer’s obligation to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life will prevent this from happening again.”
Kamer will be held at the Wood County Justice Center until he is returned to prison.
