On Wednesday, Pride pleaded guilty in Butler County Common Pleas Court to aggravated murder and aggravated arson, both with specifications that he is a repeat violent offender.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Judge Keith Spaeth then sentenced Pride to life in prison without the possibility of parole with the maximum fine of $25,000 for killing Calhoun. Pride was sentenced to 11 years for the aggravated arson charge, to be served consecutive to the life sentence.
Middletown police said the 28-year-old mother appeared to be protecting herself in an altercation with Pride, who police suspect was breaking into houses in the neighborhood.
“There’s not any words that Mr. Pride can say that will change what’s happened to ease their (the family’s) pain or provide them any comfort," Pride’s attorney, Anna Mallory, said before sentencing. "The one thing he feels he can do is end this for them, bring them some finality in this case … he is accepting responsibility for what he has done.”
Pride told the judge he would take his own life if it would bring back Calhoun.
“There is nothing I can say to take away the agony of grief," he said. "What I took from that little girl … If I could bring her back I would. I would kill myself right now and give her my life because I never should have put myself inside their house period, no ifs, ands or buts about it. I am sorry.”
Police initially believed Calhoun was pregnant at the time of her death, but the autopsy revealed she was not, according to the coroner’s office. Her young daughter escaped without injuries and ran to a neighboring house for help.
Pride’s court-appointed attorneys entered a not guilty by reason of insanity plea on his behalf during arraignment last month, and a hearing on his competence was scheduled for today. He admitted guilt before that hearing.
Calhoun’s father, Daniel Calhoun Sr., also spoke in court before sentencing about the loss of his daughter.
“What he done to my family, there is no apology for it. I will never get to hear my daughter’s laugh, my granddaughter will never be held by her mommy. Twenty years ain’t enough,” Daniel Calhoun said while other family members sobbed.
Spaeth gave Pride the maximum sentence. He could have received life in prison with the possibility of parole after 20, 25, or 30 years. A death specification was not returned by a grand jury that heard the evidence in Pride’s case, according to the prosecutor’s office.
Calhoun’s sister, who sobbed during her statement, told the court her niece asked to visit her mother’s gravesite after a soccer game on Saturday to tell her mom how well she has done.
“You can’t apologize. You never knew her," she said. “She was an awesome person, she was a great mother. She was somebody I looked up to. She was my mentor. You are guilty, you are very guilty because that was an innocent life that you know nothing about.”
She told Pride that Calhoun was a “sweet, pure soul. I want her to haunt you.”
Pride was being held without bond. Spaeth denied bond during arraignment at the request of the prosecution. It is an unusual request that is often reserved for those who face the possibility of the death penalty if convicted.
Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser said Pride’s criminal past is one reason for the request.
“We try to stay out of a lot of discussion about bond issues ... but in this particular case you have a repeat violent offender issue because this fellow had not been out of prison all that long and all of a sudden here he is stabbing a woman and presumptively attempting to murder a child in the process by means of fire,” Gmoser said. “So I am permitted at that point for bond purposes to say the evidence is serious and evidence is great and we are requesting no bond be issued because of the danger to society.”
According to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, Pride was released from prison on Aug. 9 after serving a sentence for burglary and aggravated burglary.
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