By Meladi Brewer

DailyAdvocate.com

GREENVILLE — A Versailles man was sentenced on domestic violence charges in Darke County Common Pleas Court. Judge Jonathan P. Hein presided.

Steven M. Karnehm was sentenced Monday on domestic violence charges, a felony of the third degree. During the sentencing, both the state and defense agreed a community control sanction was necessary.

Before Judge Hein sentenced him, Karnehm said he is working on himself to become better.

“It’s just hard. I’m trying to get out of old ways and break the cycle,” Karnehm said.

Hein told him it takes a long time to retrain the brain to be disciplined. He told Karnehm he was not saying it cannot happen, but he just needs to work through it.

Karnehm was sentenced to up to 60 months of supervision, 17 days in jail with 17 days credited, and he is required to maintain full-time employment. If he fails to comply, he can face a maximum of 18 months incarceration and a $5,000 fine, all of which are not mandatory.

Brendan C. Engle, 19, of Troy, entered a guilty plea to the amended charge of theft, a misdemeanor of the first degree. Engle has stolen lottery tickets from his former place of employment, and faced up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine, all of which were not mandatory.

Due to his current job and out-of-state living arrangements, he was sentenced to a monitored time sanction for up to 24 months, 90 days in jail with 90 days suspended, and a $250 fine. If Engle fails to comply, he can serve the 90 days.

Jamee L. Grody, 25, of Troy, entered a guilty plea for failure to notify a change of address, a felony of the third degree on April 20. He faced up to 18 months incarceration and a $5,000 fine, all of which are not mandatory.

Prosecuting Attorney Deborah Quigley said this is the defendant’s first offense on the charge.

“It appears he was lying because he was trying to stay with a girlfriend who was near a school in Miami County, so he gave a Greenville address where he wasn’t living,” Quigley said.

She said the state believes a community controlled sanction would be appropriate for this case. Grody apologized to the court before Hein had the opportunity to sentence him.

“I’m truly sorry. I know I made a mistake and I just want to do my best to follow the requirements,” Grody said.

Grody told the court he believes community control would be the best option for himself as well.

“You know what your biggest risk is?” Hein asked Grody. “You called it a mistake. Mistakes are things you can’t control. Clearly you knew what was going on. Clearly you knew what was required of you, so it’s not a mistake. It’s called bad judgment.”

Grody was sentenced to up to 60 months of supervision and 50 hours of community service.

Joshua A. Johnson, of Palestine, was arraigned Friday via video conference with the jail for the original charge of possession of drugs, a misdemeanor of the first degree. Johnson had plead guilty to the amended charge of attempted possession of methamphetamine on April 4 and was place into an intervention program.

He was arrested after allegedly failing to comply with treatment and failure to comply with no further violations of the law. When asked if he would like his original court appointed lawyer to represent him again, he replied he did not.

“I’m just going to plead guilty and let you know I was on my way to treatment before I got arrested,” Johnson said. “I started to slip up recently. I was going to my classes and then I fell off.”

Hein deferred Johnson’s sentencing due to Johnson’s pending case with Judge Julie Monnin in Municipal Court is worked out. Johnson began asking the court if there was any way to speed up the court process in order to get him to a treatment program faster. He ended up trying to make his point by comparing drugs with Vietnam.

“It’s like Vietnam out there in the drug world. It is literally war, and me and my girlfriend….I just want us to get help because we have a problem,” Johnson said.

Hein told him he needs a lawyer to help with that process, but he, himself, is not the person to be helping with that concern. He released Johnson on his own recognizance bond; however, due to a bond Johnson had on the other case, he was not released from jail at that time.

To contact Daily Advocate Reporter Meladi Brewer, email [email protected].