WARREN — The 11th District Court of Appeals recently affirmed the conviction and sentence of former Warren police officer Michael Edwards Jr., who is serving a sentence of 34 to 39 years in prison for raping two women and committing 13 other offenses. On Tuesday, the Ohio Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of the 11th District decision.

Edwards, 45, was convicted in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court of committing offenses against four of the six women who came forward with allegations accusing Edwards of sex offenses while he served as a police officer.

In addition to being convicted of two counts of rape, Edwards was found guilty of four counts of gross sexual imposition with firearm specifications; two counts of extortion; three counts of sexual battery with firearm specifications; two counts of theft in office; and two counts of dereliction of duty.

The appeals panel rejected each of the five arguments Edwards and his legal team made regarding errors they said took place in Edwards’ 2024 trial. One was that Trumbull County Common Pleas Court Judge Cynthia Wescott should have granted a mistrial on the grounds that jurors were showing signs of fatigue when the defense made its closing arguments late in the day.

In its ruling, the appeals panel stated that Edwards, “while on patrol, and in full police uniform, engaged in a pattern of preying on vulnerable women to commit various sexual offenses,” and there was “ample evidence of actual force and/or threat of force to support each conviction.”

The ruling stated that “having a deadly weapon under one’s control, isolating the victims in their rooms, taking off their clothes, forcing them in position, (etc.) is sufficient to show the element of force or threat of force.”

The ruling said that in the case of one woman, Edwards “went to her hotel room in the middle of the night with his firearm in his holster, where she was intoxicated with illegal drugs in plain view. He directed (her) to get rid of her friends and told her he would be back.”

It continues that when he “returned approximately 20 minutes later and they engaged in sex acts, he never took off his firearm and (stun gun).”

During the trial, one of Edwards’ defense attorneys asked the woman about a recorded conversation she had with an inmate at the Trumbull County Jail on Jan. 14, 2024, in which the woman discussed plans to record and blackmail Edwards, according to Tribune Chronicle coverage of the trial.

On the call, she stated, “He said he’s going to stop here Thursday, so I’m gonna record this (expletive) and blackmail him.”

The jury deliberated almost 15 hours before returning its verdicts Sept. 23, 2024. The jury found Edwards not guilty of four of the six rape charges and not guilty of one count of gross sexual imposition and one count of menacing by stalking.

During Edwards’ sentencing hearing in September 2024, the victim who secretly recorded an encounter with Edwards at the Riverview Motel, said Edwards preyed on her vulnerability and left her life shattered.

Throughout the trial, defense attorneys sought to challenge the credibility of the victims by pointing to their struggles with addiction and criminal behavior.