Former 10TV Ohio meteorologist Mike Davis recently revealed he plans to plead guilty to child porn charges. He is also requesting the court to keep him out of jail.
Davis, 60, was charged with three counts of pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor, felonies in the second degree, and one count of possession of sexually oriented matter involving a minor, a felony in the fourth degree, after nearly 16,000 images of child porn were found in his possession.
Davis could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
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Last month, Davis’ lawyer presented a seven-page motion hoping the court considers intensive behavioral sentencing instead of jail time. The motion says Davis intends to plead guilty to all four charges but also explains why he would be better off being immediately screened for and accepted into the CBCF River City Intense Therapy Program.
Davis’ lawyer, Terry Sherman, stated that his client has had several mental health issues for many years, including severe depression and anxiety, which resulted in his attempted use of pornography.
The motion also states that, according to doctors, Davis’ mental health issues also included compulsive hoarding behaviors, memory loss, and emotional isolation, and that Davis’ long-term mental health conditions directly contributed to his illegal and unlawful collection of child pornography.
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The motion argues Davis was unable to monitor himself as a consequence of his addiction, stating he was:
“…self-medicating by compulsively collecting images without specific memory of what he was collecting, resulting in many repeats of what he already had.”1
Since his arrest, the motion said Davis taken part in intensive counseling and rehab at Columbus Springs/Dublin Springs, Olena Sowers, and also with Dr. Mahmoud El-Said Shehata, M.D., Psychiatric Services.
According to the motion, Davis has been receiving outpatient psychiatric services from Dr. Sheta at Upper Arlington Behavioral Health. He states his patient has conducted himself remorsefully, lawfully, and sincerely at all times, and his progress is positive.
The motion also argues that Davis downloaded the images from the internet and emailed some of them to himself; however, he did not create, distribute, or share them. It also argues that Davis never had any inappropriate contact with any minors or recruit underage people or photograph any of them.
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The motion further argues that many of the state’s laws are outdated, saying:
“These statutes were written at a time when such materials were made with a camera and film and creating copies involved the making of physical copies of such pictures from the photo negative. Distribution involved physically transferring the images from one person to another.”
….now images are digitally downloaded and anyone seeking merely to possess such images via a computer download has automatically, and in many cases unknowingly, “produced” child pornography.1
Davis intended to plead guilty to producing child pornography, but the motion asserted he never sought to make his child pornography on his own.
A review of 253 Franklin County cases with similar charges since 2012 shows 83 percent of the suspects did not get jail time. According to ABC 6:
The majority of suspects who were first-time offenders were placed on community control with intensive supervision for sexual offenders for several years.
Specifically, the motion referenced previous cases including that of former Columbus police sergeant Dean Worthington. Worthington pled guilty to two felonies in the second degree and one felony in the fourth degree. He was sentenced to 180 days in jail, 90 days suspended in lieu of a $5,000 fine and five years of community control.
The motion also references the case of Kevin Delancey. He pled guilty to two felonies in the second degree and received five years community control and intensive sex offender therapy.1
Davis’ trial began on Thursday, Jan. 30.
