Teen gets 39 years for torture of disabled woman

[DADOCTOR]

October 14, 2008

HAMILTON — A Hamilton teenager was sentenced to 39 years in prison today, Oct. 14, for his part in the torture of a young disabled woman at her Hanover Twp. home in February.


Joseph Nagle, 17, of Progress Lane, pleaded guilty in July to aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery, complicity to aggravated robbery, felonious assault, two counts of kidnapping and vandalism for assaulting Ashley Clark, 19, all day Feb. 22. Nagle faced a total of 59 years in prison.


Last month, Nagle's girlfriend and codefendant, Cheyenne Blanton, 17, was sentenced to 44 years in prison for the same charges by Butler County Common Pleas Judge Andrew Nastoff.


Before imposing the sentence, Butler County Common Pleas Judge Charles Pater said in his six years on the bench this case is one of the most horrific he's witnessed.


Ashley Clark's parent both addressed the court, telling the judge how the crime will haunt the family for years to come.


"This has scarred myself, my daughter and myself for the rest of our lives," Sheila Clark said, noting she has attended all court hearings for both Nagle and Blanton and has failed to see any remorse from Nagle.
"I haven't seen him shed a tear of (any) kind," Sheila Clark said.
Nagle and Blanton, whose cases were bound over from juvenile court to adult court, tied up Clark, shaved her head and beat her so severely that Clark vomited.


The couple, who have a baby together, also plotted to steal the car belonging to Sheila Clark, their victim's mother. Nagle was waiting behind the door with a baseball bat to hit Sheila Clark in the head, but she fled to get help.
Nagle addressed the judge during the sentencing, offering an apology for his actions.


"What I did was horrible. I deserve to be punished. I deserve to go to prison," Nagle said.


The teen's mother, Mary Nagle. said she sees a talented young man when she looks at her son, not a violent person that has been portrayed through the media.


"He is worthy of rehabilitation," Mary Nagle said, adding she believes Joseph was influenced on the day of the crime by Blanton. "He needs mental health treatment more than incarceration."


Defense attorneys Melynda Cook-Reich and Geoffrey Modderman asked the judge to consider a lesser sentence as that imposed on Blanton.
Cook-Reich said Nagle asked Pater to impose a sentence that is just, but not excessive. She said Nagle wants to serve his time but still be able to be a father to his young son.


After the sentencing, which was attended by many Butler County Sheriff's detectives and Sheriff Richard Jones, Reich-Cook said she believed the 39 years is an excessive sentence.


"This is essentially a life sentence," she said, noting she represents people convicted for murder who get less prison time.
Sheila Clark said she is satisfied with the sentence noting Pater did what he though was right.


"We can go on now," she said, adding Ashley is doing "pretty well."
She said she believes Nagle and Blanton thought they would get away with their actions, because the did not intend to leave anyone alive to testify.