The Ohio Supreme Court will not review the case of a former Portage County superintendent who previously taught in the Mahoning Valley and was convicted of having sex with a student.

According to court records, the Ohio Supreme Court has declined to review appeal for Laura Amero, who was sentenced in 2020 to 10 years in prison for having sex with a student and attempting to have sex with another.

Amero's attorneys had previously argued for community control instead of prison arguing that Amero's actions weren't as serious as other sexual battery cases claiming the two students "facilitated" the offenses and Amero acted under "strong provocation."

However, this argument was ultimately rejected by the appeals court and now the Supreme Court.

Not every Supreme Court Justice agreed with this decision though, as Justices Michael Donnelly and Jennifer Brunner both wrote dissenting opinions on the ruling.

Justice Donnelly brought up a similar case involving a school principal convicted of four counts of sexual battery of a 17-year-old student. This principal only got two years of probation rather than 10 years in prison.

"Both cases involve accusations of multiple acts of sexual activity between a principal and student who was 17 years old or older, and yet the punishments are widely divergent ... with no sound reasoning to explain why," Donnelly wrote.

"Until we provide substantive guidance to prevent the imposition of arbitrary and inconsistent sentences, the disparate treatment that similarly-situated defendants receive will continue to undermine the public's confidence in our criminal justice system," Donnelly continued.

Brunner agreed with Donnelly stating in her opinion that accepting Amero's appeal would have allowed for the opportunity to clarify aspects of the law regarding post-conviction proceedings and any resulting resentencing.

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