Video: Librarian randomly beaten in Downtown Cincinnati. Man sentenced can't explain why

John Watts was several minutes into his sentencing Thursday when the judge asked him why he tackled a man at random, then participated in a beating so violent the judge wasn't able to watch the entire video.

"I just attacked him," the 20-year-old Watts said.

"Why did this happen?" Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Jody Luebbers asked.

Watts, who stood in front of the judge's bench, his hands shackled behind his back, paused for a few seconds.

"I don't know how to explain it," he said.

Watts is the second man convicted in the May 15, 2017 attack near Downtown's Main Library. Luebbers sentenced Watts to seven years in prison. He pleaded guilty last month to felonious assault.

In September, Johntae Dearmond pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery and was sentenced to nine years. Dearmond, now 21, blamed the attack on "intoxication."

On Thursday, Watts' attorney, Doug Nicholas, said alcohol and peer pressure led to what happened. Court documents describe a third, unidentified attacker.

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The victim, a librarian in his 40s, was walking near the library shortly after midnight when Watts, Dearmond and the third person approached him. A fourth person served as a lookout, court documents say.

They asked the librarian for a cigarette. Then the attack began. It was Watts who tackled him to the sidewalk, Assistant Prosecutor Allison Oswall said Thursday.

The man was struck about 50 times. He was kicked in the face. The attack lasted about a minute. He suffered internal brain bleeding. Blood came out of his ear. Dearmond can be seen taking the man's cellphone.

As surveillance video of the attack was being shown to Luebbers Thursday on a laptop, she stopped it: "That's enough. I really can't watch any more."

Cincinnati police Detective Dan Kreider said it was one of the two worst beating cases he's handled in his career.

Luebbers expressed dismay at Watts' inability to explain why he attacked a man "for absolutely no reason."

She noted he took the time to pick up a container of lip balm he'd dropped to the sidewalk, but didn't assist the victim.

Luebbers thought for a moment, trying to come up with words besides "evil" to describe the attack.

"Senseless," she said. "Savage. And horrific."

According to his attorney, Watts had no previous criminal record in adult court or juvenile court. He was working two jobs at the time of the incident and split time between his mother's and father's houses.

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