Ohio Stepfather in Syringe Rape Convicted
By Associated Press
Mon Apr 17, 2:53 PM
AKRON, Ohio - A man accused of impregnating his teenage stepdaughter with a syringe eight years ago was convicted Monday of rape.
The jury in the retrial of John Goff, 44, found that he forced Shenna Grimm to be inseminated with his sperm when she was 16, at a time when her mother could no longer conceive.
The jury also convicted Goff of sexual battery and child endangering, said Jason Adams, a staff attorney for the judge who presided over the trial.
Goff was convicted in 2002 of the same charges and sentenced to 20 years in prison, but last June an appeals court overturned the convictions, saying a detective's testimony about statements by Goff's wife should not have been allowed.
Grimm, now 23, told reporters that she was pleased with the verdict and that she hoped her case would help other victims.
"Just speak out," she said. "Someone will help."
Goff's lawyer, Jerry McHenry, declined to comment because sentencing and designation of Goff as a sexual offender were still pending.
Bill Canterbury, a spokesman for prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh, said Goff cannot be sentenced to more than the 20 years he got in 2002. He has been in prison since then.
"He'll get credit for the years he's already served," Canterbury said.
Jurors deliberated about three hours Friday and broke for the weekend before reaching a decision Monday afternoon.
No sentencing date was set. The sexual offender status hearing was scheduled for April 26.
Grimm's son was born in 1999, and about a year later she gave him up for adoption. She moved out of the Goff home and went to police in 2001, at the urging of her boyfriend's family.
Goff acknowledges that he fathered the child but has argued that Grimm agreed to be impregnated.
Grimm's mother, Narda Goff, was released from prison in 2003 after serving about eight months of a three-year sentence for complicity to commit sexual battery and child endangering.
In the 1990s, John and Narda Goff campaigned for a tougher state rape law. Their activism was sparked by the acquittal of a man accused of molesting Grimm. At the time, the law required intercourse for a rape charge.
John Goff's convictions both times came under the tougher rape law.
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