In re D.B.

2025 Ohio 4451
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in In re D.B.. Read the opinion of the Court — 2024 Ohio 1872
Ohio Court of Appeals·Decided September 24, 2025·No. 31382·Published

Opinion

[Cite as In re D.B., 2025-Ohio-4451.]

STATE OF OHIO ) IN THE COURT OF APPEALS )ss: NINTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COUNTY OF SUMMIT )

IN RE: D.B. C.A. No. 31282

APPEAL FROM JUDGMENT ENTERED IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS COUNTY OF SUMMIT, OHIO CASE No. DL 23 09 0864

DECISION AND JOURNAL ENTRY

Dated: September 24, 2025

CARR, Judge.

{¶1} Appellant, D.B., appeals his adjudication as a delinquent child in the Summit

County Court of Common Pleas, Juvenile Division. This Court affirms.

I.

{¶2} D.B. was thirteen years old when these events transpired. He and his younger

brother were living with their aunt and her seven-year-old son, C.B. D.B. and his aunt had their

own bedrooms, but his brother and C.B. shared one. Their shared bedroom had a bunk bed with a

twin-sized mattress on top and a larger mattress on the bottom.

{¶3} One evening, D.B., his brother, and C.B. were all lying on the bottom mattress of

the bunk bed watching television. The aunt felt unwell and was resting in her own bedroom. The

boys checked in on her periodically but otherwise kept to themselves. When they grew quiet for

too long, the aunt went to check on them. 2

{¶4} As the aunt opened the door to the shared bedroom, she immediately noticed two

things. The first was that D.B.’s brother had fallen asleep. The second was that D.B. was lying

on top of her son, both of whom were positioned face down, in the middle of the bed. D.B.

immediately rolled off C.B. when the aunt came into the room. He held a blanket to himself, and

the aunt began yelling and grabbing for it. She saw C.B. trying to pull up his pants as she struggled

to yank the blanket from D.B. When she succeeded, she saw that D.B.’s pajama pants were

unbuttoned. The aunt asked her son whether D.B. was “humping on you[,]” and her son responded

affirmatively.

{¶5} The aunt called the police as well as her brother and niece. Family members arrived

before the police, and they questioned D.B. while yelling at him. When the police arrived, they

conducted interviews and removed D.B. from the home. The aunt then took C.B. to the hospital.

At the hospital, he underwent an interview at the CARE Center and a medical examination. He

disclosed that D.B. had repeatedly reached into his (C.B.’s) pajama pants, touched his genitals,

asked C.B. to “put my privates up him[,]” and tried to put his privates “up [C.B.’s] butt.”

{¶6} As a result of the foregoing incident, D.B. was charged with gross sexual

imposition. His trial took place before a magistrate. During its case-in-chief, the State presented

testimony from the aunt and the social worker who interviewed C.B. at the CARE Center. The

State also introduced the recording of C.B.’s interview and his medical records. D.B. objected to

their admission, but the magistrate overruled his objections. At the conclusion of the trial, the

magistrate adjudicated D.B. delinquent. The juvenile court immediately entered judgment on the

magistrate’s decision and set the matter for a dispositional hearing.

{¶7} D.B. filed objections to the magistrate’s decision and supplemented his filing once

he obtained a trial transcript. While his objections were pending, the juvenile court issued its 3

dispositional orders. The court then ruled on his objections. In doing so, the court confirmed its

prior orders but also ordered the matter remanded to the magistrate for further proceedings.

{¶8} D.B. appealed from the juvenile court’s judgment, but this Court dismissed his

appeal. Because the juvenile court’s order included a remand to the magistrate, we found that it

contemplated further trial court action. Thus, we concluded that the juvenile court had yet to issue

a final, appealable order. See In re: D.B., 9th Dist. Summit No. 31177 (Oct. 28, 2024).

{¶9} Following our dismissal, D.B. moved the juvenile court to partially reconsider its

judgment. D.B. asked the court to remove from its judgment the unnecessary remand to the

magistrate for further proceedings. The juvenile court granted D.B.’s motion and executed a new

judgment entry that omitted the remand.

{¶10} D.B. now appeals from the juvenile court’s judgment and raises four assignments

of error for review. For ease of analysis, we consolidate several of the assignments of error.

II.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR I

THE TRIAL COURT’S ADMITTING C.B.’S STATEMENTS VIOLATES ARTICLE I, SECTION 10 OF THE OHIO CONSTITUTION.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR II

IN THE ALTERNATIVE, THE TRIAL COURT’S ADMITTING C.B.’S STATEMENTS VIOLATES THE SIXTH AMENDMENT TO THE U.S. CONSTITUTION.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR III

THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN ADMITTING C.B.’S STATEMENTS UNDER EVID.R. 803(4).

{¶11} In each of the foregoing assignments of error, D.B. challenges the admission of

statements C.B. made at the hospital. The State introduced those statements through the testimony

of the social worker who interviewed C.B., the recording of his interview, and his medical records. 4

According to D.B., the statements were improperly admitted because they violated his rights under

the U.S. and Ohio Constitutions and constituted hearsay under the Ohio Rules of Evidence. For

the following reasons, we reject his arguments.

Federal Confrontation Clause & Ohio Rules of Evidence

{¶12} Generally, “[t]his Court reviews a trial court’s action with respect to a magistrate’s

decision for an abuse of discretion.” Tabatabai v. Tabatabai, 2009-Ohio-3139, ¶ 17 (9th Dist.).

“In so doing, we consider the trial court’s action with reference to the nature of the underlying

matter.” Tabatabai at ¶ 18. “Evidentiary rulings that implicate the Confrontation Clause are

reviewed de novo . . . .” State v. Calhoun, 2021-Ohio-1713, ¶ 14 (9th Dist.). Consequently, we

must conduct “an independent review of the trial court’s decision without any deference to [its]

determination.” State v. Consilio, 2006-Ohio-649, ¶ 4 (9th Dist.).

{¶13} The federal Confrontation Clause affords criminal defendants the right to confront

witnesses against them. U.S. Const., amend. VI. It applies to testimonial statements. State v.

Stahl, 2006-Ohio-5482, ¶ 15. Before a testimonial statement from an unavailable declarant can be

admitted at trial, a criminal defendant must have had a prior opportunity to cross-examine the

declarant. Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 68 (2004). “[T]estimonial statements are those

made for ‘a primary purpose of creating an out-of-court substitute for trial testimony.’” State v.

Maxwell, 2014-Ohio-1019, ¶ 40, quoting Michigan v. Bryant, 562 U.S. 344, 358 (2011). “If a

statement’s primary purpose is anything else, the statement is nontestimonial.” Id. at ¶ 40.

{¶14} “Statements made for the purpose of medical diagnosis and treatment are

nontestimonial.” State v. Arnold, 2010-Ohio-2742, ¶ 28. See also Evid.R. 803(4) (providing a

hearsay exception for statements made for the purpose of medical diagnosis and treatment).

Conversely, “statements made to agents of the police for the primary purpose of forensic 5

investigation are testimonial.” Arnold at ¶28. “‘Considerations that should be taken into account

in making [a primary purpose] determination include the manner in which the child was

questioned, whether there was a motive to fabricate, and whether the child understood the need to

tell the truth.’” (Bracketed text in original.) State v.

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