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CLEVELAND, Ohio – A Cuyahoga County judge on Thursday sentenced a Cleveland man to 22 years in prison for kidnapping a woman and attacking her with a box cutter in the Ohio City neighborhood. Rayshon Reese, 51, previously pleaded guilty to attempted murder and kidnapping in the April 15 attack near West 25th Street and Detroit Avenue. In exchange for the plea, county prosecutors agreed to drop sentencing enhancements that would have classified him as a repeat violent offender and potentially lengthened his sentence. “You need to be removed, for the safety of society, for as long a period of time as the law allows me,” Common Pleas Judge David Matia told Reese as he handed down the sentence. The victim, a recently widowed 59-year-old woman, described the attack in chilling detail during the hearing. She said Reese approached her about 5 a.m. as she waited for an RTA bus to take her to a church in Lakewood, where she works. He then held a box cutter to her neck and ordered her to walk with him toward his vehicle. “He gave me a choice: I can go with him, or I’ll stay here and die at the bus stop,” the woman said while shaking. “I felt like I was walking to my death.” As the pair walked, the woman tried to signal other pedestrians for help. She said nobody helped her; instead, they looked down or at their phones. The woman said she then ran away from Reese and into the middle of the street. He chased her, slashed at her with the box cutter and punched her in the face, she said. The punch broke her nose. Reese then fled the scene. The woman ran to a nearby hospital, where she was treated for a cut to the face. Reese was arrested hours later. A Cleveland police detective said Reese showed no remorse during questioning. Prosecutors said the handle of a bloodied box cutter found in Reese’s vehicle matched his DNA. Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Samantha Sohl successfully argued for the maximum sentence. Brian Radigan, Reese’s attorney, said his client has some mental health and drug abuse issues. He requested punishments for each charge to run concurrently, rather than consecutively. “There is significant remorse,” he said of Reese. “There is shame for what he did, and there is sorrow for what he did.” Radigan later declined to comment on the case. Reese apologized to the victim during the hearing. He said he had been self-medicating with substances and attributed his behavior to a break in his sobriety. “This was just a weakness that I have to these demons,” he said. “They won this night.” Matia cited Reese’s violent criminal history in formulating his sentence. He then praised the victim. “You are a brave person,” Matia told her. “You saved yourself that night by running into the street.” After the hearing, the woman asked Matia if she could hug him. He obliged. Reese’s criminal history dates back to 1992 convictions for rape, attempted rape, aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary. He was sentenced to seven to 25 years in prison. He landed felony charges in three more cases in 2021, according to prosecutors, for assaulting a person with a gun in an RTA train, illegally possessing a weapon during a hit-and-run and threatening a victim with a knife and an ax. He was released from prison in June 2024. Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley in a statement said Reese’s time in prison “clearly” did not rehabilitate him. “Hell awaits this monster,” he said.
