A 61-year-old Youngstown man convicted of raping a 4-year-old relative has lost his bid to overturn his conviction, and he now faces a separate set of charges involving the girl's sister that could reach a plea hearing as soon as Wednesday. Todd W. Perkins remains incarcerated at Belmont Correctional Institution following the ruling.
Appeal Rejected Over Ineffective-Counsel Claim
Perkins was convicted in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court of one count of rape and one count of gross sexual imposition, a jury finding him guilty on Feb. 8, 2024, according to The Vindicator. He argued on appeal that his conviction should be thrown out because his attorney provided ineffective assistance, contending that he only pleaded guilty in an earlier version of the case because the judge refused to separate the allegations into two trials, per the same account. Judges on the 7th District Court of Appeals found that claim without merit, according to WFMJ.
WFMJ reports that the appeal was argued by special prosecutor Charles Morrow, who was assigned from the Trumbull County Prosecutor's Office due to a conflict between Perkins and the Mahoning County Prosecutor's Office. A separate Ohio appellate filing tied to the same Feb. 26, 2025 opinion instead lists Edward A. Czopur of the Mahoning County Prosecutor's Office and Danielle L. Menning of the Columbiana County Prosecutor's Office as the attorneys of record, according to a document filed with the Supreme Court of Ohio. The discrepancy over who actually argued the case has not been resolved in the available records.
A Case That Already Went Through One Reversal
This is not the first time the courts have weighed in on Perkins' guilt. He originally pleaded guilty to two child rapes in May 2021 and was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison, but he successfully appealed, the outlet's report notes. The 7th District Court of Appeals ruled in his favor in August 2022, finding that trying the allegations involving two children together could have been unfair to him, and the Ohio Supreme Court later declined to hear the prosecutor's office's challenge to that ruling, meaning the lower court's decision stood.
That reversal sent the case back for a retrial, which ended with Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge Maureen Sweeney sentencing Perkins to 20 years to life in prison in April 2024 — a term made up of consecutive sentences of 15 years to life for rape and five years to life for gross sexual imposition. Court filings show Perkins later filed an application for reconsideration of the February 2025 appellate ruling under Ohio Appellate Rule 26(A)(1), asking the court to revisit its decision affirming his convictions and sentence.
Second Case Involving Victim's Sister Still Pending
Beyond the case already decided, Perkins has a companion case pending that involves the 4-year-old victim's sister. In that matter, he faces five counts of rape and one count of gross sexual imposition. A plea hearing in the companion case has been scheduled for Wednesday, October 1.
