Luther previously pleaded no contest to four counts of rape of a child younger than 10 and 18 counts of pandering obscenity involving a minor.
Montgomery County prosecutors asked the judge to sentence Luther to prison for life without the possibility of parole.
Law enforcement began an investigation when an old memory card from Luther’s cellphone was found discarded in the parking lot of a bingo hall, according to court documents, and the person who found the memory card found child pornography on it and turned it over to police.
“Detective (Joshua) Spears of the Dayton Police Department was able to identify defendant through information on the memory card, as well as distinct tattoos that were visible in the recorded rapes of (the victim),” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed with the court Friday.
Prosecutors said in the court document that Luther is accused of filming himself sexually abusing a girl who is “wholly dependent on and at the mercy of her caretakers.”
“Defendant preyed upon the most vulnerable child one can imagine,” prosecutors wrote in the sentencing memorandum. “He victimized a girl who was too young to understand what was happening to her and incapable of reporting it even if she did understand.”
The crimes took place between 2012 and 2016, an indictment in the case says.
Montgomery County Prosecutor said the girl was as young as 6 in some of the images, and that she suffers from Cerebral palsy, is nonverbal and uses a wheelchair. Luther was trusted to watch the girl while her mother was at work, he said.
Defense attorney Jeffrey Livingston also filed a sentencing memorandum in court on Friday, asking the court to sentence Luther to the minimum sentence.
“Mr. Luther will readily admit that he is not the man he was between 2012 and 2016,” the defense attorney wrote. “During that time period, he was abusing alcohol and marijuana daily. He also would abuse cocaine. Realizing the effect the drugs and alcohol were having on his life, after 2016 he made the decision to quit abusing drugs and alcohol.”
The attorney also wrote that it is unclear if the victim understands what happened and that the attorney does not believe she will have to undergo therapy.
“This is not mentioned to minimize Mr. Luther’s actions. It is only pointed out to show that the victim will likely not have to undergo short-term or long-term therapy due to Mr. Luther’s actions,” the defense wrote.
Before being sentenced, Luther told the judge that he understood that he broke the trust of the girl’s family and that he had no excuse for his actions.
Luther faced at least 15 years to life in prison for the rape charges and between two and eight years in prison for the pandering obscenity involving a minor charges. The defense asked the court to allow Luther to serve each count at the same time, which would lower his time in prison.
The state, on the other hand, asked for the maximum sentence of life without parole saying that he treated the girl as an object instead of a person.
“Defendant demonstrated a cunning ability to select a vulnerable, silent victim. Sentencing him to life without parole is the only effective means to ensure he never has access to children again to act on his deviant sexual desires and perpetrate these heinous crimes,” the prosecutor wrote.
The judge ultimately sentenced two of the pandering charges to be served back to back with the rape charges and then allowed Luther to serve the rest of the charges at the same time.
Luther, who has been in jail since March, did get credit for 169 days of jail time served.
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