A part of her remains shackled to that night in 2005, when two gunshots fired by an ex-boyfriend upended her life, followed by a third that upended his.

Diona Clark, 41, still fears nights home alone. Bouts of anxiety come on so suddenly that she pulls over and stops her car. She has contemplated suicide.

She shared this Wednesday morning in Franklin County Common Pleas Court, then told Judge Stephen L. McIntosh that she hoped he would put her assailant behind bars.

"My desire is for him to serve prison time," she said. "I don't think that he's remorseful for what he has done to me."

She is close to seeing that desire come to pass.

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McIntosh said he is prepared to send Larry C. Belcher, 45, to prison for three years for his plea to a felony abduction charge.

The judge is awaiting word from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction that prison staff can properly house Belcher, who was left brain-damaged and partially paralyzed by the self-inflicted gunshot that nearly ended his life.

A resolution in the case is long overdue.

Belcher was married when he began seeing Clark in 2005. Clark said her decision to end the relationship led him to show up at her apartment one night, where he held her against her will and shot her when she tried to escape.

She later learned that Belcher had shot himself in the head and slipped into a coma. Police, who had been told he would not survive, never charged him.

Clark knew Belcher had survived but was unfamiliar with the criminal justice system. She figured there was a reason her case never went forward, and she moved on. Only years later, when she began speaking out about domestic violence, did she start asking questions about what had happened. The police did not have a good answer for her. They had blundered.

They charged Belcher with kidnapping in 2017. But the physical evidence had been destroyed. A witness had died. Belcher's brain injury left him with no memory of the attack, and attorney James Owen said Belcher found it hard to accept that he would commit such violence. With his Alford plea, Belcher did not admit guilt but conceded prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him. It also bolsters Clark's belief that Belcher has not shown remorse.

Owen had asked that Belcher be sentenced to probation, saying that prison time would be "a quick death sentence." Belcher cannot bathe or dress himself, shift his weight or get out of his motorized wheelchair.

"With his left hand, on good days, he can bring food to his mouth if it's cut up for him," Owen said.

But McIntosh said Clark's version of events was credible and demanded a prison sentence. Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien is confident that ODRC can carry it out.

"It's their job to provide for (inmate) care and treatment," he said.

Until that is confirmed, McIntosh allowed Belcher to remain free without bond. If the judge's decision to grant Clark's wish for a prison sentence was a just one, the temporary reprieve was only practical.

His state of incarceration, so long in coming, can wait a few more weeks. He is unlikely to flee or re-offend before then. He is serving another sentence, in a prison of his own design.

tdecker@dispatch.com

@Theodore_Decker