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Marietta man sentenced again in rape and drugs case

Photo by Janelle Patterson Cody Keene appears in Washington County Common Pleas Court for resentencing on a rape and drugs case Thursday.

MARIETTA — The Marietta man convicted in 2016 of raping an 11-year-old and giving heroin to a 12-year-old was given a lesser sentence Thursday in Washington County Common Pleas Court.

Cody Keene, 21, who previously lived at 501 1/2 Warren St., Marietta, had been sentenced to an indefinite 25 year to life prison term for each of the three unscheduled rape charges and a concurrent five years for the corrupting another with drugs charge.

But Keene returned to court Thursday after winning an appeal focused on the sentence.

“There’s a bit of inconsistency in how the law is written and when (Keene) took the case to the court of appeals they disagreed with the 25-to-life sentence and sent it back down,” explained Washington County Prosecutor Kevin Rings.

Rings said Washington County Commons Pleas Judge Mark Kerenyi was instructed by the court of appeals to change the sentence to 10 years to life Thursday.

“His convictions on three counts of rape and one count of corrupting a minor with drugs are affirmed,” states the opinion of the Fourth District Court of Appeals, dated July 25. “However, we have concluded that the trial court erroneously sentenced Appellant to three terms of twenty-five years to life in prison on the rape charges…the sentence he received requires a conviction of a sexually violent predator specification, which does not exist in this case.”

Keene’s rape of the girl was not a forcible act, according to investigators.

Keene also spoke in court Thursday, though it was brief.

“There really is nothing left to say at this current time,” he told Kerenyi before Kerenyi changed the sentence.

Keene’s rape victim was 11 and 12 years old when he committed the sex crimes against her beginning sometime in 2014. He also reported to officials in 2015 that he had injected a 12-year-old boy with heroin at the Putnam Commons apartments, 121 Putnam St., Marietta.

Keene had pleaded guilty to all four counts mid-trial in December after the victim of the rapes testified.

“We will change the unspecified felonies instead to find Keene guilty of three counts of rape, all felonies of the first degree, and sentence you to a minimum of 10 years per count with a maximum of life in prison, “ said Kerenyi. “All three sentences are to be served concurrently with the five years for the corruption as well.”

If released after 2027 Keene will also be subject to five years of post-release control and is a registered Tier III sex offender for life with responsibility to verify his address every 90 days with local law enforcement.

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