YOUNGSTOWN — Jimmie D. Davis was sentenced to nine years in prison Thursday after pleading guilty in July to one count of pandering sexually oriented material involving a minor and eight counts of illegal use of a minor in nudity oriented material.

Mahoning County Assistant Prosecutor Caitlyn Andrews told Judge Anthony D’Apolito that Davis, 49, who also goes by the name Zephanie, said Davis had electronic devices that were “bookmarked specifically for underage sex, including ones that specifically named young girls and incest pornography.”

Andrews said the devices contained “images and videos depicting minors engaging in sexual acts.” She said prosecutors were recommending that Davis get nine years in prison. Davis’ indictment states that the offenses occurred July 1, 2023, through Nov. 11, 2023, in Mahoning County. The nine convictions are low-level felonies.

No address is available for Davis other than the Mahoning County jail, but when Davis was arrested in 2012 on a parole violation at the Austintown public library, he had an Austintown address, according to Vindicator archives.

Davis was on parole at the time after serving a nine-year prison sentence on a 2001 rape and gross sexual imposition conviction in Marion County, according to a 2012 Vindicator new story. Under terms of his parole, he was not to possess any pornography or possess or use any electronic device with storage capacity; and he was not to frequent libraries or other places where children congregate.

MAHONING PROSECUTOR

“As always, in these cases, we have to take into consideration the fact that this is a business and every single time a defendant clicks on a picture, downloads a video (they) are perpetuating the sexual abuse of these minors,” Andrews said at Thursday’s hearing.

“But in this case the state’s biggest concern actually goes to the defendant’s criminal history,” Andrews said. Davis re-offending “is nearly guaranteed in this case. Looking at some of the defendant’s prior (convictions), at the time of the offense, she was on federal probation for this. These were the exact same charges, and she served 11 1/2 years in prison for possession of child pornography.”

But Andrews said going back even further in Davis’ criminal history, she also served nine years in prison for “rape of a 4-year-old and a 6-year-old. So we are talking about hands-on activity, in addition to just possession of child pornography.”

Andrews added, “This is not like typical child porn cases where they can say ‘I was just looking, but I wasn’t touching.’ Although we are not talking about touching in this (criminal) case, this is a defendant who has shown that they are capable of going that far and willing to go that far,” Andrews said.

“She is a danger to society in its highest form. She clearly preys on young children,” Andrews said, adding, “And it is likely she will re-offend. At the time of this, she was on parole for possessing child pornography. At the time she committed that offense, she was on parole for raping two minor children. She has violated every single time she has been on parole. And she has shown that she cannot obey the orders of the court or the laws of the State of Ohio or the United States.”

Andrews said Davis recently had a sex-offender risk assessment. The doctor who performed that “actually stated that she has gone through interventions before that clearly have not worked and ultimately came to the decision that some kind of treatment would not be appropriate, that she would need to go to prison in order to manage her risk to the community,” Andrews said.

Davis’ attorney, Mark Lavelle spoke after Andrews, saying the question for people like Davis is “What is the value of incarceration in that regard? Are we just insulating society from Zephanie Davis, who has been locked up 20-some years of a 49-year life? Is there a remedy otherwise?”

Lavelle said he is “not suggesting that (Davis) walk away from this. What I am suggesting is that somehow, somewhere the wires are crossed, and there is something that precludes her from obeying the rules of society. Not her fault? Is it her fault? I don’t know.”

Lavelle said Davis was “transitioning” while she was in the federal prison system. That included medication and “taking care of the psychological needs and physical needs associated that impacted these demons, I think. That being said, that is not going to take place in the state penal institution.”

Lavelle said he thinks “somehow, somewhere there has to be a capacity for some sort of treatment … to figure out, to address the issues which caused these behaviors.”

Davis spoke briefly, saying she has “been through a lot. I’ve caused a lot of harm throughout my life as well. I was harmed when I was younger. There is no excuse. I should have possibly sought outside help as well.”

D’Apolito said the sex-offender risk assessment suggests that there were “a lot of things that led to Zephanie Davis being here today. Some were in her control. Some were not.”

Before D’Apolito pronounced Davis’ sentence, he said that he agreed with Lavelle’s description of Davis: “There are wires that are crossed. And how they got that way, I don’t think you and I are going to figure out how they got that way.”

He said the first line of the sentencing statute states that the purpose of sentencing is “to protect the public from future crime by the defendant and punish the defendant using the minimum sanction that this court determines accomplishes that.”

He said he thinks that “while she is not incarcerated, she is a threat.” He said he does not think rehabilitation will be effective because of previous attempts, and he does not think prison will deter her from future crimes. What he can do is protect “the community and children for the amount of time that the law allows.”

When Davis leaves prison, she will be a tier 3 sex offender, required to register her address every 90 days for life.

Davis gets credit for 686 days spent in the Mahoning County jail awaiting trial.