Amos was indicted last year on two counts of rape, one count of sexual battery and two counts of gross sexual imposition. Four of the counts were dismissed against Amos in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court on Wednesday.
Amos changed his plea to guilty for one count of sexual imposition, and pleaded guilty to one count of assault, added as a part of the plea agreement.
Visiting Judge Daniel Hogan accepted his guilty pleas. The two counts have a maximum penalty of a $1,500 fine and 240 days in jail, according to the judge. Amos could also have to register as a Tier-1 sex offender, which would require annual reporting for 15 years.
Hogan was assigned by the Ohio Supreme Court last year to handle the case after Montgomery County judges recused themselves.
Court records say that on June 12, 2020, Montgomery County sheriff’s detectives met with the alleged victim, who said the incident occurred on April 19 or April 26, 2013. A sheriff’s office incident report obtained by the Dayton Daily News shows it was reported in Washington Twp.
The accuser told detectives that he was drinking with Amos — whom he’d never met previously — at a bar and became extremely intoxicated. A bartender called a cab, which allegedly took them back to Amos’ house, where the man claims he was sexually assaulted while slipping in and out of consciousness.
The Dayton Daily News does not identify the victims of alleged sexual assaults.
Lucas County special prosecutor Jennifer Liptack-Wilson said the plea agreement was reached with the consent of the victim.
Montgomery County Prosecutor Mat Heck Jr. allowed Amos to stay on the job during the yearslong investigation. Amos resigned from the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office the day of his indictment.
A Montgomery County prosecutor’s office spokesperson said Wednesday the office did not have involvement in the prosecution of the case and declined to comment further.
Amos will have a sentencing hearing at the Montgomery County Common Pleas Court in November.
Handling of case ‘extremely unusual’
Liptack-Wilson, an attorney at the Lucas County Prosecutor’s Office, was appointed as prosecutor after the case was referred first to the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office to avoid a conflict of interest and then transferred back to Montgomery County, where it remained for months. This included November 2021, when Heck appointed Amos to lead courtroom arguments in the high-profile case of a Dayton man who shot two teenagers to death in his garage.
Records for the case were sealed for seven months after Amos was indicted. The seal was lifted after the Dayton Daily News asked why the records weren’t public, with Judge Hogan stating he wasn’t aware the seal was still in effect after Amos’ arraignment.
Amos also was permitted to stay out of jail on his own recognizance pending a trial per a motion approved by the judge. Amos was required to check in weekly with his attorney by phone.
Legal experts previously told Dayton Daily News that the terms of Amos’ release and sealing of the case were both rare.
David Singleton, director of the Ohio Justice and Policy Center, said the terms of Amos’ pretrial release were “extremely unusual.”
Singleton advocates for people to get the minimum restrictions necessary to get them to show up for court, but said the average person accused of felony rape would be looking at a six-figure bond and electronic monitoring.
“It raises the questions about fairness in terms of how other people are treated,” Singleton said. “I think It’s important that everybody that’s charged with a crime is presumed innocent, but the system doesn’t do that for the average Joes and that’s what is noteworthy about this situation.”
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