State court affirms child rapist’s lengthy sentence
A convicted child rapist’s sentence of 340 years to 680 years of incarceration is not cruel or unusual punishment, the state Superior Court panel ruled last month.
The March 29 decision affirms that Eric James Stull, 50, of Morgan Township, knowingly entered a guilty plea and willfully denied a plea deal from prosecutors that would have carried a 20- to 40-year sentence.
Greene County Judge Lou Dayich’s sentence was not excessive “given the criminal conduct at issue in this case,” according to the court’s decision.
Stull was sentenced in Greene County Court last year for molesting and raping a young girl over a 10-year period, starting when the victim was 2 years old. He pleaded guilty to all charges in October 2016.
The court vacated Stull’s requirement to report as a sexually violent predator for life, but affirmed all other aspects of the Greene County Court’s decisions.
The reporting requirement is likely moot since Stull also was sentenced in federal court to 338 years in prison in March for disseminating videos of the molestation on the internet.