Carl Mollett, 33, of Lima, was sentenced Monday to a minimum of 52 years in prison for discharging a firearm at U.S. marshals and Allen County deputies during a standoff on East Fourth Street last summer.
J Swygart | The Lima News
LIMA — “This is just unacceptable in a civilized world.”
With those words, Allen County Common Pleas Court Judge Jeffrey Reed on Monday sentenced Lima resident Carl Mollett to a minimum of 52 years in prison for shooting at five law enforcement officers during a standoff last summer in Lima.
Reed called the factors that formed his sentencing decision “very complicated” and cited joint efforts of the Ohio legislature and the Third District Court of Appeals as contributors to the confusion surrounding how specifications for discharging a weapon at peace officers should be calculated.
Those factors were discussed at length prior to sentencing.
Attorney Steve Chamberlain of the Allen County Public Defenders Office said the sentencing range for the offenses committed by Mollett ranged from a minimum of 17 to more than 100 years. He argued that a prison term that amounted to a life sentence would violate the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Assistant Allen County Prosecutor Joe Everhart said Mollett has expressed “zero remorse for his antics” and asked the court to impose the maximum sentence.
Mollett did not speak at Monday’s hearing, but Reed posed a rhetorical question to the defendant.
“You don’t have to answer this, but what in the world were you thinking? You put all kinds of people at risk. What did you think you were going to accomplish?” the judge asked.
Mollett, 33, was convicted in March following a jury trial on five counts of felonious assault and two counts of having weapons under disability. Jurors found that Mollett discharged a firearm in the direction of law enforcement officers during a standoff on East Fourth Street in Lima last summer. Officers with the U.S. Marshal’s Service were attempting to serve an arrest warrant on Mollett for alleged sex offenses in Franklin County when, according to trial testimony from several witnesses, shots rang out from inside the residence.
Mollett held police at bay for several hours on the morning of July 28 by refusing commands to exit the home. The man and his 19-year-old girlfriend, Amber Robertson, remained in the residence until tear gas canisters were deployed into the home.
Shortly after the tear gas canisters were deployed, Mollett and Roberston exited and were taken into custody without incident.
The weapon allegedly used by Mollett to shoot at police officers was never located.
