GALLIPOLIS - A local woman whose appeal was denied in March by the Fourth District Court of Appeals was granted judicial release from prison by Gallia County Common Pleas Court on Thursday after serving approximately 33 days of a 17 month sentence.

Elizabeth M. Stout, 35, 7160 Ohio 160, was found guilty of one count theft and one count forgery by a jury of 12 in Gallia County Common Pleas Court in May 2006. She was sentenced in July 2007 to the Ohio Reformatory for Women for 17 months for the theft of $17,627.85 from Ohio Valley Bank Co. and 17 months for forging a countercheck in the amount of $1,000 on the account of an elderly or disabled person. The sentences were to be served concurrently.

Stout, represented by Gallipolis attorney William Eachus, appealed the court's ruling and the execution of her prison sentence was stayed pending the Fourth District Court's decision which ruled in March 2008 to uphold the initial judgement. Stout began serving her sentence on April 25 and was granted judicial release on May 28.

According to court records, Gallia County prosecutors and OVB both recommended Stout's judicial release. OVB doing so on the condition that restitution was paid in full and a check was submitted to them from Stout on Thursday in the amount of $17,627.85.

The court reviewed the record, the letter from OVB recommending release, the pre-sentence investigation report compiled by the Adult Probation Department, and exhibits admitted without objection and found that a sanction other than a prison term would adequately punish Stout and protect the public from future criminal violations because the applicable factors indicating a lesser likelihood of recidivism outweigh the applicable factors indicating a greater likelihood of recidivism and that a sanction other than a prison term would not demean the seriousness of the offense.

The court found that Stout had no prior felony convictions, no prior juvenile delinquency adjudication, no prior adult convictions, had led a law-abiding life for a significant number of years, the offense was committed under circumstances unlikely to recur, Stout is likely to respond to community sanctions, recidvism is not likely, she has shown an ability to succeed, and she was not on probation, parole, community control or release from confinement at the time of the offense. Remaining incarceration will no longer provide a benefit to society or Stout and she should be released to community control and now be given the opportunity to live her life outside of the prison walls.

It was thereby ordered that Stout be sentenced to 24 months of community control. She was further ordered to register with Ohio Employment Services if unemployed, submit to random drug/alcohol tests, serve up to three years of post release control, pay $17,627.85 restitution to OVB, which she already has done, pay $50 per month to the clerk of courts while on community control, and pay all costs of prosecution for which judgment is rendered.