Judge finds Dayton man guilty of shooting, sexually assaulting woman

A judge found a Dayton man guilty of nearly a dozen charges for shooting a woman in the leg in June 2022 while pistol-whipping her before forcing her into a vehicle and sexually assaulting her.

Melvin Anthony Brown, 40, was con- victed Friday by Montgom- ery County Common Pleas Judge Richard Skelton of two counts of felo- nious assault, four counts of rape, two counts of kidnap- ping, two counts of having weapons under disability and one count of tamper- ing with evidence following a bench trial — trial by judge — that began Monday, accord- ing to court officials. All but the weapons and tampering charges carried three-year firearm and repeat violent offender specifications that will add time at sentencing, court records show.

Brown, who waived his right to a jury trial, is sched- uled to be sentenced March 12.

Dayton police were called June 11, 2022, to the 600 block of Neal Avenue, where they found a woman sitting on the front steps of a house with a gunshot wound to her leg.

The woman told officers she was walking home on South Smithville Road early that day when a man came up behind her.

“He made a vulgar state- ment and put a gun to her head,” according to an affi- davit filed in Dayton Munic- ipal Court. “He struck her several times with the gun and in doing so the firearm discharged striking (the woman) in the leg, break- ing her femur.”

Brown reportedly forced the woman into a vehicle and then drove away. The woman attempted to pull at the steering wheel while the vehicle was moving, but Brown hit her multiple times and knocked her unconscious, according to the affidavit.

Brown remains held in the Montgomery County Jail awaiting sentencing.