Amherst Twp. man gets life for child rapes

Gary L. May, 72, of Amherst Township, was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 15 years.

An Amherst Township man learned Sept. 22 he will spend at least 15 years in prison for raping young girls his wife was baby-sitting at their home.

Gary L. May, 72, was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 15 years by Lorain County Common Pleas Court Judge John R. Miraldi.

May was found guilty by a jury Sept. 18 of 10 counts of rape, nine counts of sexual battery and two counts of sexual battery for the crimes against two juveniles.

One of May’s victims, who is now an adult, addressed the court before the sentencing was handed down and said she doesn’t remember much from before the incidents.

“From then on, I was hit with challenges after challenges,” she said. “I cried from pretty much anything.

“My young brain was so overwhelmed with the trauma that happened to

me every single day that it shut off 90 percent of my emotions. My brain was still trying to get itself together, which means it’s still repressing most of my emotions.

“The emotions that I do feel are superficial and 99 percent negative and stressful.”

She said in addition to the impact the abuse had on her emotions, it also caused her to have stress seizures that she is just now beginning to overcome. She added that the trauma, and her body’s response to it, led to her missing over 300 days of school throughout high school.

Addressing the court before the sentence was handed down, May’s defense attorney, Stourton Smith, said his client maintains his innocence.

“His position has not changed,” Smith said. “He’s sympathetic to the two young ladies. He feels that their testimony was credible.

“He feels that something did happen to them, but he feels that they have mixed him up with somebody else.”

Smith highlighted his client’s advanced age and health problems and said if the court even gave him the minimum sentence, he likely would not live to be released.

Also addressing the court before the sentence was handed down, May, who was brought into the courtroom in a wheelchair, echoed the sentiments of his lawyer.

“I do admit that something happened to these ladies,” he said. “I’m sorry they went through such trauma. I don’t know what to say; I did not do this.”

KEITH REYNOLDS — THE MORNING JOURNAL Gary L. May, 72, of Amherst Township, is wheeled into Lorain County Common Pleas Court Judge John R. Miraldi’s courtroom Sept. 22.