Former meteorologist sentenced for child porn
Former WBNS-TV (Channel 10) meteorologist Mike Davis was sentenced Thursday to four to six years in prison.
Davis, 60, was sentenced on four convictions related to possession of child pornography. He had entered guilty pleas to the counts, which involved pandering sexually oriented material involving a minor, on Jan. 30.
But Davis’ sentencing had been postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
One of the four convictions is subject to an indefinite sentencing range of four to six years, which means it will be up to the Ohio Parole Board whether Davis would continue to serve time after the minimum four years in prison.
Davis also must register as a sex offender every 180 days for the next 25 years.
In imposing the sentence, Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Karen Held Phipps condemned Davis and called the facts of the case “horrendous.”
She said Davis’ concern throughout the case has been for himself rather than the children who are victims, adding that she’s troubled with how Davis referred to the children in the pornographic images as objects.
“These are victims who were groomed and abused for years to get them to participate in these acts,” Phipps said. “You chose to support an industry that re-victimized these children over and over for years.”
The prosecutors said Davis possessed nearly 16,000 images of child pornography on his electronic devices, calling it “extreme” and making the case “among the most serious.”
Prosecutors also said Davis lacked true remorse for the “thousands of felonies” he committed.
“He objectifies these abused children by referring to them as ‘it’ and his crime as ‘collecting,’ comparing it to collecting toys, comic books and coins,” prosecutors wrote.
In motions filed prior to Thursday’s hearing, Terry Sherman, Davis’ attorney, had argued that Davis did not deserve a prison term. Sherman said he researched other Franklin County cases with similar charges and that 83% of those cases did not result in a prison sentence.
“The number of pictures should not be the driving force behind whatever sentence the court intends to impose,” Sherman wrote in a motion filed May 20.
Phipps, though, said she was more concerned about the length of Davis’ actions — accumulating the child pornography over seven years — than the number of images.
“You groomed your family and your co-workers to allow you to engage in a sex offense for seven years and go undetected,” she said.
Sherman said Davis has been attending outpatient counseling, including twice weekly telehealth visits since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Sherman also pointed to Davis’ age and health issues and expressed concern about sending Davis to prison, with one in 10 Ohio inmates having tested positive for the coronavirus.
He asked the judge whether Davis could begin his sentence later, when the coronavirus is less of a threat, but Phipps ordered Davis’ sentence to begin immediately.
Franklin County Assistant Prosecutors Kara Keating and Daniel Meyer had argued against probation for Davis, or time in a community-based correctional facility, in a motion filed in March.
Sherman said Davis has shown genuine remorse, questioning the probation officer’s interpretation of Davis’s responses during a pre-sentence interview with him.