The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Man classified as sex offender
He was convicted of killing Mentor-on-theLake teen in 1985
One of the men convicted of the 1985 murder of Mentor-onthe-Lake teenager Michelle Hayes did not object to his sexual oriented offender classification at a Jan. 14 hearing.
Scott Grant, 51, appeared before Lake County Common Pleas Court Judge Eugene A. Lucci for a hearing that Grant had appealed all the way to the Ohio Supreme Court.
“Upon reviewing the state’s materials, we are not going to at this time object to the classification of Mr. Grant as a sexually oriented offender,” said Grant’s attorney, Assistant Lake County Public Defender James Mathews.
Lucci determined Grant is a sexual oriented offender and a child victim oriented offender. He will hold those statuses for 10 years.
Grant was 18 when he told officials he killed Hayes with an accidental martial arts punch to the throat because she resisted his sexual advances.
A Lake County jury convicted Grant of involuntary manslaughter and kidnapping. He was sentenced to 11 to 40 years in prison.
The 17-year-old victim’s body was found in a shallow grave in a Mentor blackberry patch on Aug. 3, 1985. Grant was one of two men convicted in Hayes’ death.
Grant’s maximum sentence — which includes extra time for an unrelated burglary case — ends on Aug. 20, 2025. He is next up for parole this February.
As a sexual oriented offender, he is required to register as a sex offender in person in the county of his residency within seven days of coming in to the county.
A sexual offender classification hearing was scheduled in August 2016, but the hearing never took place because Grant — acting as his own attorney — filed a writ of prohibition from the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, arguing that Judge Richard L. Collins Jr. had no power to conduct the hearing.
Megan’s Law (HB 180)— Ohio’s Sex Offender Registration & Notification Law — became effective in 1997. The subsequent Adam Walsh Child Safety Protection Act was passed in 2008, repealing the previous
law.
“The refusal of this court to issue a writ of prohibition would result in injury to (the defendant), as it would cause him to be labeled a sexual predator under a repealed law that has no effect,” Grant wrote.
Grant’s request for a writ of prohibition was heard by the 11th District Court
of Appeals. The appellate court ruled that the sexual predator classification hearing was allowed.
Grant subsequently appealed the 11th District Court’s decision to the Ohio Supreme Court.
The higher court issued its decision in October 2018, affirming the appellate court’s judgement.
Ohio Supreme Court Justice Sharon Kennedy wrote that while Megan’s Law had been repealed, “our case law...holds that when a new law cannot be applied retroactively, the legislature’s appeal of the former version of that law is a nullity.”
“For this reason, our holding in 2011 that the retroactive application of the AWA is unconstitutional means that Megan’s Law continues to apply to offenders convicted before 2008, including Grant,” she said.
Dawn Hayes, Michelle’s sister, told the News-Herald in 2017 she wants Grant registered as a sex offender so that when he is released, it will help protect people who may not be aware who is living in their neighborhood. Lauren Godec, Michelle’s niece (and Dawn’s daughter), said she was happy with what happened at the hearing.
“I think it went well, considering the fact of the law and what they were able to do,” she said. I think (the classification) should be longer, but I’m happy with what happened.”
Grant’s co-defendant, then-16-year-old Stephen Cohen, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter for helping Grant cut off the deceased victim’s legs and bury her. Cohen was released from prison in 2010 after serving his full 25year sentence.
Cohen cannot be pursued as a possible sex offender because he was not convicted of a registerable offense.
Ahead of Grant’s parole hearing, Dawn Hayes created a change.org petition collecting signatures in hopes to keep her sister’s killer behind bars.
“You destroyed so much with your heinous act, but one thing you never will destroy is my love and commitment to my sister Michelle,” she wrote.
More than 4,000 people have already signed the petition.
Godec said her family will keep fighting.
“You want it to end, you want to grieve, you want to be at peace, but you’re not because you’re constantly fighting to keep someone behind bars who deserves to be there for life,” she said.
“You want it to end, you want to grieve, you want to be at peace, but you’re not because you’re constantly fighting to keep someone behind bars who deserves to be there for life.” — Lauren Godec, Michelle’s niece