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YOUNGSTOWN (WKBN) -- The Seventh District Court of Appeals this week upheld a 25-year sentence given to a former teacher who pleaded guilty in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court to having obscene images of children.
The appeals court said that 25 consecutive 12-month sentences given to 70-year-old James Watt in January by Judge Megan Bickerton after he pleaded guilty to 45 counts of pandering obscenity involving a minor were proper.
Watt had appealed the sentences being consecutive, saying that his sentence should be remanded because the judge could not show that the trial court could not show a great or unusual harm; the trial court did not make a finding that consecutive sentences were necessary; and there was nothing in the record that showed that consecutive sentences were necessary.
The appeals court disagreed, saying that the court record did show that there was great and unusual harm caused by Watt's actions and that consecutive sentences are necessary to protect the public from his behavior.
Watt was a former teacher at David Anderson High School in Lisbon who retired in 2024. His last day was May 31, 2024.
An incident that happened Oct. 22, 2024, triggered an investigation of Watt, who originally faced a 75-count indictment, but 30 of those charges were dismissed as part of his plea bargain.
A grand jury indicted Watt Jan. 13, 2025.
The plea agreement in the case called for prosecutors to recommend a 25-year sentence.
The three-judge panel that decided the case are appellate judges Carol Ann Robb, Cheryl L. Waite and Katelyn Dickey.