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YOUNGSTOWN -- Convicted child rapist Todd Perkins has lost his appeal and remains incarcerated.
A news release from the Trumbull County Prosecutor's Office, issued late Tuesday, states that the Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals in Youngstown turned down Perkins' appeal in a unanimous decision. Perkins, now 61, was convicted in February 2024 of rape and gross sexual imposition against a child relative of his, who was younger than 5 at the time of the offenses. He was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison.
Perkins filed an appeal alleging ineffective legal counsel. His appeal was handled by Charles Morrow of the Trumbull County Prosecutor's Office, because of a conflict of interest with Mahoning County. Perkins' attorneys during his trial were Lynn Maro, now Mahoning County Prosecutor, and John Juhasz, now chief of the criminal division under Maro.
Maro and Juhasz's defense of Perkins was so vociferous that Gina DeGenova, then county prosecutor, included in her campaign claims during that November's election that Maro accused a child rape victim of being a liar.
The cases against Perkins have dragged their way through the county and state courts for years.
He was first indicted in 2017 on six counts of rape and two counts of gross sexual imposition against two young girls related to him and to each other. One was younger than 5 when the crimes happened, and another was between 8 and 13 when he abused her over a period of several years.
Maro and Juhasz attempted to sever the two cases, but Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge Maureen Sweeney denied the motion.
In 2021, Perkins pleaded no contest to two counts of rape and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. But he appealed, and in August 2022, the Seventh District overturned the conviction, stating that the motion to separate the charges should have been granted.
He was tried again in 2024 on the charges involving the younger of the two girls, and the jury deliberated only two hours before returning a guilty verdict on Feb. 8 of that year.
He has been incarcerated at the Belmont Correctional Facility in St. Clairesville ever since.
A plea hearing in the case of the older girl was scheduled for Sept. 24, but was continued. He is scheduled to appear today for a plea and sentencing hearing in front of Sweeney.