Logan County Jury Finds Gene Grant Guilty of Rape, Kidnapping

A Logan County jury today found Gene W. Grant guilty of two counts of rape and one count of kidnapping, felonies of the first degree, and one count of gross sexual imposition, a felony of the fourth degree. The jury deliberated for about three hours.
 
The jury also found Grant not guilty on another rape charge relating to his ex-wife and not guilty of pandering sexually oriented material involving a minor. The pandering charges related to videos law enforcement recovered from a family computer tablet.
 
On the rape convictions, the jury found the victim was under 10 years of age and Grant purposely compelled her to submit through force or the threat of force. On the kidnapping charge, the jury found the victim was under 18 years of age and Grant committed the offense with a sexual motivation.
 
In addition, the State of Ohio charged Grant with a sexually violent predator specification on the rape and kidnapping charges. Grant, through his counsel John Cunningham of Dayton, elected to have Logan County Court of Common Pleas Kevin P. Braig determine the applicability of the sexually violent predator specifications rather than the jury. Judge Braig then discharged the jury.
 
Judge Braig announced that he will hold a hearing at a later date to determine the applicability of the sexually violent predator specifications. Judge Braig also revoked Grant's bond and ordered that he await sentencing in the Logan County Jail. Judge Braig announced that the Court will undertake a pre-sentence investigation and schedule a sentencing hearing.
 
The rape convictions require the Court to impose a sentence of at least twenty-five years to life in prison.
 
Logan County Assistant Prosecutors Nathan Yohey and Erin Rosen represented the State of Ohio.