CAMBRIDGE − Dalton John Leach, 33, was sentenced to life in prison on Monday by Judge Daniel G. Padden in Guernsey County Common Pleas Court for murdering Maureen Ramey, 55, on March 15. The murder took place in a residence they shared residence on Anderson Road in Quaker City, according to a press release from the Guernsey County Sheriff’s Office and court records.
Leach pled guilty to murder and grand theft of a motor vehicle, a fourth-degree felony, on June 24. He will be eligible for parole after 16 ½ years in prison. He is serving a consecutive sentence that carries 15 years for murder and the maximum of 18 months on the grand theft charge.
Leach will also be required to register as a violent offender.
Guernsey County Prosecutor Lindsey Angler is glad for the consecutive sentence but reeling over what she said is an unfair loop in the law when it comes to murder sentencing and how soon the offender can be considered for release.
“I am constantly disappointed in the state legislator, who has decided that the murder penalty is 15 years to life,” said Angler. “I don’t personally believe that any murder should be considered for release after only 15 years, but there’s nothing we can do about that with the way the law is written.”
She said it’s the local judges who know their communities best and should have more leeway in sentencing for murder.
“It is frustrating,” said Angler. “I feel especially bad for all of the victim’s family members when they’re faced with that conversation: ‘Your loved one’s life is only worth 15 years.’ That is just so wrong.”
On March 15 just shortly before 11 a.m., Guernsey County deputies and a family member found Ramey deceased inside of her home, according to the sheriff’s release. Detectives from the sheriff’s office and crime scene agents from the Ohio Attorney General’s BCI section were summoned to the scene.
An autopsy conducted at the Licking County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that Ramey had died from a single gunshot wound to her back. Leach, the live-in boyfriend of Ramey, was identified as a suspect and was arrested later that day at an Indianapolis area casino in Shelbyville, Indiana, according to the release.
Following his sentencing, Leach was remanded into the custody of the Guernsey County Sheriff’s Office and transported back to the county jail. Angler said he will be transported to the corrections center in Orient for the Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections to do a security risk assessment and classify him before sending him to the proper prison.
She said the process will take about a month.
Angler stated violent crime in Guernsey County is not uncommon.
“We do have several murder cases pending right now,” she said. “Unfortunately, in Guernsey County, we are not immune to big city problems or big city crime.”
She said the one thing Guernsey County has going for it is that the prosecutor’s office won’t back down from a trial.
“We’re not afraid to have a trial and put in the work to get the convictions,” she said, noting that from 2000 to 2020, there were only 30 jury trials in Guernsey County. Under her watch, Angler has already had 21 trials in three years.
“Attorneys show up and think I’m going to fold or agree to a last-minute plea agreement — I won’t,” said Angler. “Our office is not afraid to go to trial in any case. And that’s the best thing we can do to protect our community, by showing defendants we will do the work and they won’t get a free pass.”
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