Boles is sentenced in Cori Key slaying

Before sentencing, Damiene Boles insisted he did not murder Cori Key.

With a shackled Damiene Boles standing before him, Lucas County Common Pleas Judge James Jensen said the final irony in the death of Cori Key was that the man who for so long had tried to control her was going to lose his freedom because he killed her.

Judge Jensen then sentenced Boles, who was convicted by a jury Thursday of murder, to 15 years to life in prison.

I m confident, in your twisted and arrogant mind, you thought you were going to get away with this murder, the judge said. Cori Key, the person who you tried to control, through her death your life will be controlled the rest of your life.

The sentencing came after a four-day trial in which friends testified about the abusive relationship between Boles and Ms. Key. The 26-year-old mother of two was found beaten and stabbed in the bathtub of her home July 31, 2004.

Ms. Key s mother, Deniese Key, expressed relief that after three years, her daughter s killer was behind bars. She said even though justice was served, the impact of her daughter s death will continue to resonate in the lives of her friends and family.

Ms. Key left two sons, ages 5 and 10. Boles was the father of her youngest son, Damiene.

With Ms. Key s father, David, beside her, Deniese Key made a statement to the judge about the long-awaited justice their family finally received.

Damiene Boles brutally and maliciously took the life of my precious daughter. He has shown no remorse. He has taken no responsibility for his actions, she said. Damiene should never be able be allowed to inflict control, pain, suffering, or take another life. It will not bring our child back, but it will protect another.

Standing between his attorneys, Boles told the judge before sentencing that he was innocent of murder. Instead he called himself a victim of circumstances.

Same thing I said from the beginning, I didn t commit this crime, he said to the judge.

Judge Jensen called Boles a vicious, depraved monster and accused him of thinking he was smarter than police. He then credited the county s cold-case unit for diligently working on the unsolved murder.

Investigators in the unit reopened the case late last year, nearly 2 years after Ms. Key was murdered. They arrested Boles in December after compiling a case through the use of witnesses and phone records.

After the sentence was read, Ms. Key s family gathered outside the courtroom, sharing hugs with investigators in the case and each other. Mr. Key said he hopes Boles is never paroled from prison, as he would hate for him to do this to some other young woman.

He thought he pulled it off, Mr. Key said. He got what he deserved.

Contact Erica Blake at:eblake@theblade.comor 419-213-2134.