Roger P. Orich v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)

CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 23, 2020
Docket19A-CR-2394
StatusPublished

This text of Roger P. Orich v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.) (Roger P. Orich v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Roger P. Orich v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.), (Ind. Ct. App. 2020).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION Pursuant to Ind. Appellate Rule 65(D), this Memorandum Decision shall not be FILED regarded as precedent or cited before any Mar 23 2020, 10:51 am court except for the purpose of establishing CLERK the defense of res judicata, collateral Indiana Supreme Court Court of Appeals estoppel, or the law of the case. and Tax Court

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE R. Brian Woodward Curtis T. Hill, Jr. Office of the Lake County Public Attorney General of Indiana Defender – Appellate Division Justin F. Roebel Crown Point, Indiana Supervising Deputy Attorney General Indianapolis, Indiana

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF INDIANA

Roger P. Orich, March 23, 2020 Appellant-Defendant, Court of Appeals Case No. 19A-CR-2394 v. Appeal from the Lake Superior Court State of Indiana, The Honorable Samuel L. Cappas, Appellee-Plaintiff. Judge Trial Court Cause No. 45G04-1809-F5-195

Mathias, Judge.

[1] Roger P. Orich (“Orich”) pleaded guilty in Lake Superior Court to one count of

Level 5 felony possession of child pornography and was sentenced to five years,

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 19A-CR-2394 | March 23, 2020 Page 1 of 18 with four years to be served in the Department of Correction (“DOC”) and one

year in community corrections. Orich appeals and presents three issues, which

we restate as:

I. Whether the trial court abused its discretion by denying Orich’s request to remove copies of the charging information and the probable cause affidavit from the presentence investigation report;

II. Whether the trial court abused its discretion by considering aggravating factors that were not supported by the record; and

III. Whether the trial court overlooked mitigating factors that were clearly supported by the record.

[2] We affirm.

Facts and Procedural History [3] The facts, as admitted by Orich at his guilty plea hearing, are that he collected

images depicting children under the age of twelve displaying their genitals,

uncovered breasts, and being fondled. Orich also admitted that these images

had no literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. On September 21, 2018, the

State charged Orich with Level 5 felony possession of child pornography and

Level 6 felony possession of child pornography. On September 10, 2019, Orich

pleaded guilty to both charges.1

1 The trial court “merged” the Level 6 felony conviction with the Level 5 felony charge for purposes of sentencing and entered judgment of conviction only on the Level 5 felony.

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 19A-CR-2394 | March 23, 2020 Page 2 of 18 [4] At the subsequent sentencing hearing, Indiana State Police detective Vicki

Maxwell (“Detective Maxwell”) testified regarding the investigation of Orich.

She explained that the case began when she received a tip from the National

Center for Missing and Exploited Children that someone had uploaded pictures

to the Internet that depicted child pornography. Further investigation

determined that the person who had uploaded the pictures was Orich. Detective

Maxwell learned that, in 1991, Orich had been charged with battery and child

molesting against his adopted daughter but convicted only of battery. In 1993,

he was charged with, but found not guilty, of molesting the same victim. Orich

had also been arrested in 1981 for exposing himself to school children.

[5] Detective Maxwell also explained that, when the police executed the warrant to

search Orich’s residence, they found various items, including “naked posters of

women on the walls, anime. Anime children were on his sheets.” Tr. p. 23.

They also found a chair with a painting of a nude woman tied to the chair with

a gag-ball in her mouth, sex toys, women’s lingerie, and dolls. She explained

that all of the items appeared to be sexual in nature. In the nightstand next to

Orich’s bed the police found pictures of child pornography. She also testified

that, during the search of Orich’s home, the police found DVDs containing

numerous image files of child pornography and a hard drive containing over

340,000 images of pornography, including images of adult pornography;

bondage; sexual torture; child pornography; virtual pornography of adults,

children, and infants; children in “seductive” poses; infants with their genitals

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 19A-CR-2394 | March 23, 2020 Page 3 of 18 exposed; children bathing; children using the toilet; and sexual acts with child

dolls.

[6] A search of an external hard drive found in Orich’s home revealed 4,790

pornographic images. Some of the images depicted the worst forms of child

sexual assault, including young children being raped vaginally and anally by

adults. The police submitted the images found in Orich’s collection to the

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, who identified 366 images

as known images of child pornography involving scores of known child victims.

A search of Orich’s computer also revealed that he had used an internet search

engine to look for several disturbing terms, including “daughter yells no daddy,

stop daddy, violent rape, 3D dad f**king baby son, 3D incest sex, 3D kidnap

little girl torture, 3D little girls dead abused.” Tr. p. 26. The search engine had

also been used to look for images of bestiality.

[7] At the sentencing hearing, Orich presented the testimony of psychologist

Robert Coyle (“Dr. Coyle”), who began treating Orich in January 2019 after he

had been charged in the present case. Dr. Coyle testified that Orich had a

hoarding disorder and that his collection of child pornography was a “small

part” of the items he collected, including such innocuous items as comic books.

Tr. p. 52. Dr. Coyle testified that Orich had an average IQ of 94 but had a lower

level of cognitive functioning, which he attributed to a childhood injury and

chronic alcohol abuse. On cross-examination, however, Dr. Coyle admitted

that most of the information he had regarding Orich had been self-reported by

Court of Appeals of Indiana | Memorandum Decision 19A-CR-2394 | March 23, 2020 Page 4 of 18 Orich. He also admitted that Orich had underreported the magnitude and

nature of his pornography collection.

[8] At the conclusion of the sentencing hearing, the trial court found as mitigating

that Orich had pleaded guilty, that he had expressed remorse, and that

incarceration would cause an undue hardship on Orich due to his mental health

issues. The trial court also noted that Orich had led an apparently law-abiding

life for twenty years. The trial court found as aggravating Orich’s prior criminal

history and his pattern of inappropriate behavior involving children. The trial

court also found as aggravating the quantity of images Orich possessed and the

horrific nature of the abuse depicted. The trial court noted that Orich

underreported his conduct to Dr. Coyle. The trial court sentenced Orich to five

years, with four years to be served in the DOC and one year to be served in

community corrections. Orich now appeals.

I. Presentence Investigation Report

[9] Orich first claims that the trial court erred by denying his request to remove

copies of the charging information and the probable cause affidavit from the

presentence investigation report (“PSIR”). In the present case, the charging

information provided:

COUNT I [POSSESSION OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY (a Level 5 Felony)]

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Blakely v. Washington
542 U.S. 296 (Supreme Court, 2004)
Anglemyer v. State
875 N.E.2d 218 (Indiana Supreme Court, 2007)
Anglemyer v. State
868 N.E.2d 482 (Indiana Supreme Court, 2007)
Cotto v. State
829 N.E.2d 520 (Indiana Supreme Court, 2005)
Smylie v. State
823 N.E.2d 679 (Indiana Supreme Court, 2005)
Carter v. State
711 N.E.2d 835 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1999)
Sullivan v. State
836 N.E.2d 1031 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2005)
Ousley v. State
807 N.E.2d 758 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2004)
Biehl v. State
738 N.E.2d 337 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2000)
Dickenson v. State
835 N.E.2d 542 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2005)
Vela v. State
832 N.E.2d 610 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2005)
Carmona v. State
827 N.E.2d 588 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2005)
Lopez v. State
869 N.E.2d 1254 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2007)
Thomas v. State
562 N.E.2d 43 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1990)
Dennis Vermillion v. State of Indiana
978 N.E.2d 459 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2012)
Clinton Couch v. State of Indiana
977 N.E.2d 1013 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2012)
Tommy Orlando Townsend, Sr. v. State of Indiana
45 N.E.3d 821 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 2015)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Roger P. Orich v. State of Indiana (mem. dec.), Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/roger-p-orich-v-state-of-indiana-mem-dec-indctapp-2020.