WEST UNION, Ohio (Court TV) — An Ohio judge chose to go beyond the agreed-upon sentence on Tuesday when he sent a man to prison for at least 17 years for killing a child.
Brian Moser sits in court during his sentencing on March 24, 2026. (Court TV)
Brian Moser, 23, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and two counts of endangering children in an agreement with prosecutors that recommended he serve 15-20 years in prison. But Judge Brett M. Spencer opted to hand down a sentence that went beyond that, finding that the proposed punishment didn’t go far enough. “While our minor children compose only one third of our population, they compose 100 percent of our future,” Spencer said. “The court will not be following the stipulated sentence.”
Moser had initially faced seven charges of endangering children, along with involuntary manslaughter and murder charges, in the death of his girlfriend’s 2-year-old daughter.
On July 1, 2025, Adams County sheriff’s deputies were called to a home where they found Moser with the unconscious child, along with two other children. While Moser initially denied hitting the children, he later admitted that he used corporal punishment on all three of the minors, killing one. Moser, who was unemployed at the time, would watch his girlfriend’s children while she was at work.
Spencer noted in his decision to depart from the stipulated sentence that had he agreed to the proposed 15-20 years, the victim in the case would not even have been 18 when Moser would have been eligible for release from prison. Had Moser been found guilty as charged under the indictment at trial, he would have faced 63 years to life in prison. Spencer ultimately sentenced him to 17 to 22 1/2 years in the custody of the Department of Corrections.
While Moser had no criminal history, he described himself to investigators as having a troubled past and an unhappy childhood marked by abuse. Born Terry Smith III, Moser changed his name just days before the child’s death, WKRC reported. Moser’s new name matches that of a character on the television show Dexter, which follows a fictional serial killer.
