State v. Adams

2014 Ohio 3432
Ohio Court of Appeals·Decided August 8, 2014·No. 2013 CA 61, 2013 CA 62·Published·Cited by 95 cases

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS FOR GREENE COUNTY, OHIO STATE OF OHIO :

Plaintiff-Appellee : C.A. CASE NO. 2013 CA 61 2013 CA 62

v. :

T.C. NO. 13CR373

BILLY K. ADAMS : 13CR150

Defendant-Appellant : (Criminal appeal from Common Pleas Court)

:

..........

OPINION

Rendered on the 8th day of August , 2014.

..........

NATHANIEL R. LUKEN, Atty. Reg. No. 0087864, Assistant Prosecutor, 61 Greene Street, Xenia, Ohio 45385 Attorney for Plaintiff-Appellee

WILLIAM O. CASS, JR., Atty. Reg. No. 0034517, 135 W. Dorothy Lane, Suite 209, Kettering, Ohio 45429 Attorney for Defendant-Appellant

..........

FROELICH, P.J.

{¶ 1} Billy K. Adams was convicted after a jury trial in the Greene County Court of Common Pleas of five counts of rape in violation of R.C. 2907.02(A)(1)(b), one count of rape in violation of R.C. 2907.02(A)(2), and two counts of gross sexual imposition

in violation of R.C. 2907.05(A)(4). These convictions concerned two step-daughters (Children #4 and #5), who were minors at the time of the offenses.1 Adams also pled no contest to three additional counts of gross sexual imposition concerning three additional children. Adams received an aggregate sentence of 40 years in prison.

{¶ 2} Adams appeals from his convictions, claiming that the broad time frames in the indictments and the bills of particulars denied him due process and that his convictions were based on insufficient evidence and were against the manifest weight of the evidence. For the following reasons, the trial court’s judgment will be affirmed in part and vacated in part, and the matter will be remanded for resentencing on Count 10 in Case No. 2013 CR 150 and Counts 1, 3 and 6 in Case No. 2013 CR 373.

I. Charged Offenses and Errors in Sentences

{¶ 3} Adams was indicted in Case No. 2013 CR 150 on eight counts of rape in violation of R.C. 2907.02(A)(1)(b), one count of rape in violation of R.C. 2907.02(A)(2), one count of gross sexual imposition in violation of R.C. 2907.05(A)(1), and five counts of gross sexual imposition in violation of R.C. 2907.05(A)(4). The counts involved five different children, with the offenses occurring between various dates ranging from 1998 until 2013. A few months later, in Case No. 2013 CR 373, Adams was charged with eight additional counts of rape and gross sexual imposition involving Child #4.

{¶ 4} The charges concerning Children #1-3 were severed, and Adams was tried before a jury on the charges related to Children #4 and 5. The jury found him guilty of one

1

Children #4 and #5 were adults when the trial occurred. For consistency, we will refer to them as children throughout the opinion.

count of gross sexual imposition regarding Child #5. With respect to Child #4, Adams was found guilty of five counts of rape in violation of R.C. 2907.02(A)(1)(b), one count of rape in violation of R.C. 2907.02(A)(2), and one count of gross sexual imposition in violation of R.C. 2907.05(A)(4). Several charges had been dismissed at the conclusion of the State’s case-in-chief pursuant to Crim.R. 29, and Adams was acquitted of several others. As to Children #1-3, Adams subsequently pled no contest to one count of gross sexual imposition for each child. The remaining charges concerning those children were dismissed.

{¶ 5} In Case No. 2013 CR 150, the trial court sentenced Adams to 10 years in prison for the two rapes and, on Count 10, to 18 months in prison for gross sexual imposition (which the court incorrectly stated was a fourth-degree felony). The sentences in Case No. 2013 CR 150 were ordered to be served concurrently with each other, for a total of ten years, and consecutively to the sentence imposed in Case No. 2013 CR 373.

{¶ 6} In Case No. 2013 CR 373, the court sentenced Adams on Counts 1-3 and 5-6 and imposed an aggregate 30-year sentence. However, the offenses that the court identified under Counts 1, 3, and 6 did not correspond to the offenses listed in the indictment for Case No. 2013 CR 373. (The offenses did correspond to Counts 1, 3, and 6 in the indictment for Case No. 2013 CR 150; Counts 2 and 5 are the same in both cases.) The trial court imposed an 18-month sentence for gross sexual imposition for Count 1, a 10-year sentence for rape for Count 3, and a 36-month sentence for gross sexual imposition for Count 6. The court should have imposed sentences for rape, gross sexual imposition, and rape for Counts 1, 3, and 6, respectively. A summary of Adams’s charges and their dispositions is provided in Appendix A, attached.

{¶ 7} In its appellate brief, the State states that the trial court made errors regarding its sentencing on Count 10 in Case No. 2013 CR 150 and on Counts 1, 3, and 6 in Case No. 2013 CR 373. The State suggests that, “if the Court feels it necessary to fix this apparent error, the proper remedy would be to remand this case to the trial court for resentencing.” Adams did not respond to the State’s suggestion.

{¶ 8} A reading of the sentencing transcript reflects that the trial court believed that it was sentencing Adams for gross sexual imposition as a fourth-degree felony when it imposed an 18-month sentence for gross sexual imposition on Count 10 in Case No. 2013 CR 150; Adams was convicted of gross sexual imposition as a third-degree felony in that count.

{¶ 9} In addition, the trial court was apparently mistaken regarding which offenses corresponded to Counts 1, 3, and 6 in Case No. 2013 CR 373; it appears that the trial court inadvertently referred to the indictment for Case No. 2013 CR 150 when sentencing for Case No. 2013 CR 373. The trial court erred when it imposed sentences for gross sexual imposition for Counts 1 and 6, which were actually counts of rape, and for rape for Count 3, which was actually a count of gross sexual imposition.

{¶ 10} Upon review of the record, we conclude that these errors must be corrected.

The sentences for Count 10 in Case No. 2013 CR 150 and for Counts 1, 3, and 6 in Case No. 2013 CR 373 must be vacated, and the matter will be remanded to the trial court for resentencing on those counts.

II. Notice of Dates of Alleged Offenses

{¶ 11} Adams’s second assignment of error states:

“The broad timeframe of the indictment and the bill of particulars denied the Appellant his right to due process and a fair trial.”

{¶ 12} Adams was convicted of one count regarding Child #5 and seven counts regarding Child #4. The sole count regarding Child #5, Count 10 of Case No. 2013 CR 150, alleged gross sexual imposition by Adams between the dates of January 1, 1998 and January 17, 2005. Two of the rape counts regarding Child #4 (Counts 12 and 13 of Case No. 2013 CR 150) were alleged to have occurred between January 1, 1995 and July 21, 2003. Two other counts of rape and one count of gross sexual imposition of Child #4 (Counts 1, 2, and 3 of Case No. 2013 CR 373) were alleged to have occurred between January 1, 1999 and December 31, 2003. Two additional rapes (Counts 5 and 6 of Case No. 2013 CR 373) were alleged to have occurred between July 22, 2002 and July 21, 2003 and between July 22, 2003 and July 21, 2004, respectively.

{¶ 13} At Adams’s request, the State provided a bill of particulars for the offenses.

In Case No. 2013 CR 150, the State specified that Count 10 involved conduct at a residence on Cincinnati Avenue. It alleged that, while in the bathroom, Adams rubbed Child #5’s vagina with his fingers while she was in the bathtub. The bill of particulars further stated that, “[a]t the time of the crime, the victim was under the age of 13.” The bill of particulars further indicated that Counts 12 and 13, concerning Child #4, occurred in Xenia, Ohio. Count 12 alleged that Adams placed his tongue inside Child #4’s vagina and that she was under the age of 13 at the time. Count 13 alleged that Adams made Child #4 “suck his penis with her mouth and tongue” and that Child #4 was less than 13 years old at the time of the offense.

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