A 20-year-old Bloomingburg man who impregnated a 14-year-old minor was sentenced Wednesday to five years of community control and in-patient therapy for unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.
William H. Colburn III admitted to having sex with a 14-year-old who became pregnant and later gave the baby up for adoption.
Colburn originally appeared Monday in the Fayette County Court of Common Pleas with his attorney, Thomas Arrington, and was sentenced to nine months in prison but Colburn’s nine month sentence was withdrawn Wednesday on “manifest justice.”
“The court reviewed certain material, including the pre-sentence investigation and discussed the matter with defense counsel and the state of Ohio, and the court determined that there was an error in the pre-sentence investigation which compromised the court’s ability to render a fair sentence,” said Steven Beathard, Fayette County Court of Common Pleas judge.
In this case, Beathard said, officers in the Fayette County Adult Probation Department said in the pre-sentence investigation that the state of Ohio recommended a prison sentence for Colburn—but when the court reviewed the plea hearing on Aug. 15, 2016, there was no recommendation from the state of Ohio for a prison sentence in the case.
“Assistant prosecutor (John) Scott was there at the plea hearing and indicated that there was no recommendation,” said Beathard.
The court relied on the Fayette County Adult Probation Department’s pre-sentence investigation in sentencing Colburn to prison, but the probation department never received a state recommendation from the prosecutor’s office for a prison sentence.
“So the court considers that the sentence in this case would be a manifest injustice and has relayed that information to Mr. Weade and Mr. Arrington,” said Beathard.
Colburn was allowed to withdraw his plea and sentence Wednesday, revoking the nine month prison sentence, but plead guilty to unlawful sexual conduct for a sentence of five years of mandatory community control by the Fayette County Adult Probation Department and ordered to complete six months of in-patient group therapy and counseling at SEPTA Correctional Facility in Nelsonville, Ohio.
Colburn was ordered to pay $696 for the costs of prosecution in the case and is required to register as a Tier II sex offender.
He faces a year-and-a-half in prison if he violates the terms of the sentencing.