News

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Thursday, June 25, 2026

Conviction Stands for Man Convicted of Brutal Domestic Assault

(ZANESVILLE, OH)

On July 15, 2025, officers were dispatched to a Bonifield Court residence after a neighbor reported a woman covered in blood pounding on their door screaming that Mullins was trying to kill her. The victim’s son, age 13, was present during parts of the assault and witnessed the violence.

Mullins was sentenced to twenty-five years in prison. He is currently serving his prison sentence at Belmont Correctional Institute. His expected release date is July 9, 2050.

Mullins was charged in a ten-count indictment following the violent attack. During the attack Mullins struck the victim’s face, slammed her head into cabinets, strangled her, and hit her in the head with a lamp. The resulting injuries to the victim were so severe that she had to undergo facial-reconstruction surgery, had to relearn how to walk and talk, and was nearly unrecognizable due to the swelling on her face.

https://www.muskingumprosecutor.org/News-Events/Sterling-Mullins-Sentenced-To-25-Years-In-Prison-For-Brutal-Assault-On-Partner/328/

Mullins filed an appeal with the Fifth District Court of Appeals arguing that the Kidnapping and Felonious-Assault charges should have merged or only been considered as a single act for sentencing purposes. He also argued that his prison sentence was “contrary to law” because the trial judge, according to Mullins, imposed an improper “package” sentence.

As part of a negotiated plea agreement, Mullins pled guilty to three felony charges and two misdemeanor charges. In the written agreement, the parties agreed that the counts to which Mullins pled guilty “do not merge” meaning he could be sentenced separately for each act.

At the plea hearing Mullins’s attorney stated that the plea form was correct and that he had reviewed that form with Mullins before Mullins signed it. Furthermore, his attorney answered “no” during the trial when he was asked by the Judge whether he wanted to present any argument regarding the merger.

During the sentencing hearing, Mullins refused to take responsibility for his acts, provided excuses and contradictory stories about his medication, and requested a minimal sentence. Judge Gerald Anderson asked Mullins what Mullins believed was an appropriate sentence for “someone who had covered [the victim] in bruises, had strangled her to the point of losing consciousness and had beaten her so badly that she needed facial-reconstruction surgery and had to relearn how to walk and talk.”

When Mullins responded that he did not know, the judge added, ‘because I’m just trying to decide how many decades’ in prison were appropriate …”

The Fifth District Court of Appeals agreed with the arguments of the Muskingum County Prosecutors Office that the Muskingum County Common Pleas Court was correct in determining a sentence. Mullins will continue to serve the remainder of his twenty-five-year prison sentence.

“It is sentences like those handed down upon Mullins by Judge Anderson which express to victims, the public, and other future perpetrators of crime that Muskingum County is not a place where this type of behavior is welcome, and is not a place where this type of behavior will be tolerated,” according to Assistant Prosecutor John Litle who handled the case. “APA Joe Palmer did a great job on this appeal, and the appeals court reached the correct decision, keeping Mullins in prison, right where he belongs.”

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