BY TOM O'NEILL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
BATAVIA -- It's just too soon.
That's how Judge Robert Ringland of Clermont County Common Pleas Court characterized the early release request of a former Union Township man convicted of hitting his then-girlfriend's deaf son with a stick.
Elliott Sanders, 29, was sentenced for two felonies -- one count each of attempted child endangerment and attempted intimidation of a witness -- to 26 months in prison, but because they are being served concurrently, his maximum is 14 months.
The hearing was scheduled for today. Mr. Sanders had served less than three months.
Because Judge Ringland denied the request, Mr. Sanders could reapply for judicial release, previously known as "shock probation."
Had the request been denied at a hearing, Mr. Sanders would have to serve his entire sentence. Clermont County Prosecutor Don White has said his office would strongly oppose the early-release request. "It was just too soon," Judge Ringland explained Wednesday. Mr. Sanders has been in jail since May 26 -- with three days' credit for time served before his guilty plea.
"An eye for an eye," said Julee Kidd of Union Township, whose son, Zachary, now 7, was disciplined by Mr. Sanders in October after Mr. Sanders discovered the boy had eaten the last piece of Mr. Sanders' birthday cake for breakfast -- then lied about it.
"I'm very relieved," she said Wednesday.
Mr. Sanders recently declined to comment through officials at Madison Correctional Institution near London, Ohio, where he is incarcerated.
