Jan. 17—LIMA — A Lima man was sentenced to a minimum of 15 years in prison Friday for aggravated burglary with a repeat violent offender specification after a jury found him guilty last week.
Keith Malloy, 46, was also facing a third-degree felony charge of strangulation but jurors were unable to reach an agreement in deliberations last Thursday so prosecutors dismissed the charge.
Judge Terri Kohlrieser decided before sentencing that Malloy met the definition of a repeat violent offender because he was convicted of aggravated burglary and robbery — which are offenses of violence — in 2004. The specification added four years to the total sentence. The maximum time Malloy could be in prison for is 20 1/2 years and that depends on his behavior in the facility.
The incident on April 29 that involved the mother of Malloy’s child, Clarissa Dewitt-Campbell, occurred 96 days after Malloy was released from a 20-year prison sentence due to the 2004 charges.
Dewitt-Campbell didn’t attend the sentencing, Assistant Prosecutor Colleen Limerick said, because she thought it was best to stay away after receiving criticism from Malloy’s family on social media.
Limerick spent about 25 minutes going through Malloy’s previous convictions — which started while he was a juvenile — and his behavior in prison.
She said in the 2004 case, Malloy and another individual threatened and assaulted a couple with guns while demanding money.
Limerick said charges he received as a juvenile included gross sexual imposition for gang-raping a 15-year-old, receiving stolen property, attempted robbery, burglary and grand theft auto. His first adult offense was a third-degree felony robbery charge when he was 18.
She said Malloy is a Crip gang leader and was involved in a prison riot and other prison gang activity. Malloy’s other prison infractions included being disrespectful, refusing to follow orders and making and drinking alcohol.
“Despite decades of imprisonment, he has almost immediately returned to his predatory and violent nature and harmed a pregnant lady in this case and continues to place the community at risk,” Limerick said. “Keith Malloy is the person with the criminal history and the serious nature of the violations that the RVO spec (repeat violent offender specification) was incorporated for.”
Before sentencing, Malloy said he thought he was being “aggressively charged” and repeatedly described the incident as a “minor” and “domestic” dispute. He asked Kohlrieser to consider overturning the guilty plea or declaring a mistrial.
“I haven’t had a chance. It ain’t like I got out and got in the streets. I got out and got a job. That’s a big accomplishment for me,” Malloy said.
“I don’t deserve to go back to prison. I deserve to be charged accordingly. I’ve never had a domestic fight. Why didn’t you just charge me on domestic violence if you felt like I did a domestic dispute? That’s because it’s easy to send me back to prison,” he said. “I was on the right track, I just had a few bumps, and those bumps don’t call for another 20 years.”
Kohlrieser found Malloy didn’t express genuine remorse because of his statements.
“Something I would also note about the seriousness of the offense is there was evidence presented that the defendant kicked in the door to the home, that he knew he wasn’t supposed to be in the home, and quite honestly, he thinks this is just a minor incident. Therein lies the problem. It wasn’t a minor incident. You break someone’s door down and you assault them and there’s physical evidence of the assault,” Kohlrieser said.
Reach Charlotte Caldwell at 567-242-0451.
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