Chris Nelloms (born August 14, 1971) is an American male former track and fieldsprinter who specialized in the 200- and 400-meter dash. In 1992, Nelloms was shot by an unknown assailant during athletic practice in a park. He made a full recovery and returned to competitive running. In 1999, Nelloms was charged and convicted on eight counts of sexual offenses against a minor. He was sentenced to four life terms in prison.
In August 1992 he was shot in the back in a park in Dayton, Ohio, where he had been completing a fitness run. The shot hit an artery, broke his collarbone and punctured a lung, yet he managed to return to good health and race again. No one was charged with the shooting.[5]
On January 8, 1999, Nelloms was convicted of one count of felonious sexual penetration and seven counts of rape against his daughter, who had accused him of sexually abusing her in Ohio and Kentucky from 1995 to 1997, when she was between the ages of eight and 11. He was sentenced to four consecutive terms of life in prison.[12] He is incarcerated at Warren Correctional Institution.
Immediately following his trial, Nelloms appealed the conviction, arguing juror and prosecutorial misconduct; the appeal was denied. In February 1999, he appealed again to the Ohio Court of Appeals, arguing for a new trial on the grounds that the state of Ohio only had jurisdiction to judge incidents that occurred in Ohio, not others that occurred in Kentucky. The court ruled that four counts of the indictment be dismissed, but denied Nelloms a new trial. Nelloms appealed again to the State Supreme Court, which rejected it. The case was remanded to the trial court, which rejected the appeal in June 2001.[13]
A prison interview with Nelloms was published in the Dayton Daily News in 2006, in which he proclaimed his innocence.[14] In response the victim, Terria Pitts, decided to waive her anonymity and challenge her father, saying: "I wanted to let the public know that Chris Nelloms is not innocent...he's being incarcerated for something he did do. There was evidence. I just want people to know that I'm not a liar."[15]
