COLUMBUS — Sierah Joughin’s mother wondered aloud before lawmakers on Tuesday whether her daughter might be alive today if police had immediate access to a list of violent offenders living nearby that summer night she disappeared.
She spoke before legislators — back in Columbus on Tuesday — during a testimony hearing for Senate Bill 231, also known as “Sierah’s Law.” The bill, sponsored by Sen. Randy Gardner (R., Bowling Green), would create Ohio’s first searchable geographic database of past violent offenders for use by law enforcement.
It would require those convicted of murder, attempted murder, voluntary manslaughter, kidnapping, and abduction to register their addresses upon release from prison for at least 10 years.
Ms. Joughin, 20, of Metamora, disappeared on the night of July 19, 2016, while riding her bicycle. James D. Worley faces a death sentence for abducting, handcuffing, and asphyxiating her.
“Within hours, the K-9 unit was out and her bike was found,” her mother, Sheila Vaculik, told the House Criminal Justice Committee. “Soon the quiet of the night filled with the sound of ProMedica’s Air Mobile and spotlights lit up the sky.
“The sex offender registry that was put into place by legislators worked just like it was meant to that night,” she said. “But unfortunately the man responsible was not on any list or registry.”
Worley, living in nearby Delta, had previously served a sentence for a similar Lucas County abduction in which his victim survived.
“We know, especially with abductions and kidnappings, the sooner we can find the victim the greater the likelihood they will be found alive. The first 24 to 36 hours are critical,” said Wood County Sheriff Mark Wasylyshyn, past president of the Buckeye State Sheriff’s Association.
Under “Sierah’s Law,” the statewide database itself could not be accessed by the public. But much of the information supplied by local offenders would be available for inspection in county sheriffs’ offices.
“We believe these two provisions provide the right balance — accurate, fast access for law enforcement to use the database while giving citizens information they can and may want to strive to keep their families safer,” Mr. Gardner said.
The bill passed the Senate 31-2 last spring and has the backing of Attorney General Mike DeWine, Ohio’s next governor.
At the start of the lame-duck session, the committee also heard testimony on Senate Bill 201, the proposed Reagan Tokes Act, named for the former Monclova Township resident murdered last year during her senior year at Ohio State University.
Brian Lee Golsby is serving three consecutive sentences of life without parole for kidnapping, robbing, raping, and shooting Ms. Tokes, 21.
He’d been released from prison two months earlier after completing a sentence for attempted rape. A registered sex offender, he wore an ankle GPS monitor that, while collecting data, was not monitored in real time. He committed several robberies in the days immediately preceding Ms. Tokes’ murder.
The bill passed the Senate unanimously last spring. It would reintroduce indefinite sentencing — with maximums and minimums — for those convicted of certain felonies. It would use the threat of longer prison time to encourage inmates to behave and take advantage of programs to improve themselves while behind bars.
“Most offenders now serve fixed sentences where the prisoner is released at a certain, static date, regardless of their behavior in prison,” one of the bill’s sponsors, Sen. Kevin Bacon (R., Columbus), said.
“This has had the unfortunate effect of removing one of the most significant incentives for good behavior in prison,” he said. “In Reagan’s case, the offender, Brian Golsby, was cited 45 times for offenses such as attacking other inmates, defying correction officers, possessing drugs, and stealing while incarcerated.”
A different version of the Reagan Tokes Act passed this committee and the full House last spring, but it goes further than the Senate’s sentencing reforms. The House version would also adjust parole officer caseloads and staffing levels and require development of a system to better monitor released inmates’ whereabouts and cross-reference that information with crime data.
The latter provisions have seen no Senate action, in part, because of the potentially hefty price tag.
State Rep. Jim Hughes (R., Columbus), one of the sponsors of the House version, said he might try to amend the missing provisions into the Senate bill, if the Tokes family is on board. He called the projected costs “a red herring.”
“We have to keep the public safe,” he said. “I don’t want to go back to (Reagan’s mother Lisa McCrary-Tokes) and say we didn’t do this because of money.”
Any bill that does not reach Gov. John Kasich’s desk before the close of session next month must begin the legislative process from scratch.
First Published November 13, 2018, 9:25 p.m.
