State v. Adrian

859 N.E.2d 1007, 168 Ohio App. 3d 300, 2006 Ohio 4143
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 11, 2006
DocketNo. 2005 CA 23.
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 859 N.E.2d 1007 (State v. Adrian) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Adrian, 859 N.E.2d 1007, 168 Ohio App. 3d 300, 2006 Ohio 4143 (Ohio Ct. App. 2006).

Opinions

Wolff, Judge.

{¶ 1} Danny C. Adrian was convicted by a jury in the Champaign County Court of Common Pleas of one count of attempted rape, one count of attempted complicity to commit kidnapping, one count of compelling prostitution, and two counts of complicity to prostitution. He was acquitted of a second count of attempted rape. Adrian was sentenced to various concurrent sentences, resulting in ten years of imprisonment. He was also found to be a sexual predator. Adrian appeals from his convictions, raising three assignments of error on appeal. We will address them in a manner that facilitates our analysis.

{¶ 2} II. “The trial court erred and thereby deprived appellant of due process of law as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and comparable provisions of the Ohio Constitution by overruling appellant’s motion for judgment of acquittal, as the prosecution failed to offer sufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt each and every element of the offenses of attempted rape and attempted complicity to kidnapping.”

{¶ 3} III. “The trial court erred and thereby deprived appellant of due process of law as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and comparable provisions of the Ohio Constitution by finding appellant guilty, as the verdict for attempted rape and attempted complicity to kidnapping were against the manifest weight of the evidence.”

{¶ 4} In his second and third assignments of error, Adrian claims that his convictions for attempted rape and attempted complicity to commit kidnapping were based on insufficient evidence and were against the manifest weight of the evidence.

{¶ 5} “' “[S]ufficiency” is a term of art meaning that legal standard which is applied to determine whether the case may go to the jury or whether the *304 evidence is legally sufficient to support the jury verdict as a matter of law.’ ” State v. Thompkins (1997), 78 Ohio St.3d 380, 386, 678 N.E.2d 541, citing Black’s Law Dictionary (6th Ed.1990) 1433. When reviewing the sufficiency of evidence, the relevant inquiry is whether any rational finder of fact, viewing the evidence in a light most favorable to the state, could have found the essential elements of the crime proven beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Dennis (1997), 79 Ohio St.3d 421, 430, 683 N.E.2d 1096, citing Jackson v. Virginia (1979), 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560. A guilty verdict will not be disturbed on appeal unless “reasonable minds could not reach the conclusion reached by the trier-of-fact.” Id.

{¶ 6} In contrast, when a conviction is challenged on appeal as being against the manifest weight of the evidence, we must review the entire record, weigh the evidence and all reasonable inferences, consider witness credibility, and determine whether, in resolving conflicts in the evidence, the trier of fact “clearly lost its way and created such a manifest miscarriage of justice that the conviction must be reversed and a new trial ordered.” Thompkins, 78 Ohio St.3d at 387, 678 N.E.2d 541, citing State v. Martin (1983), 20 Ohio App.3d 172, 175, 20 OBR 215, 485 N.E.2d 717. Because the trier of fact sees and hears the witnesses and is particularly competent to decide “whether, and to what extent, to credit the testimony of particular witnesses,” we must afford substantial deference to its determinations of credibility. State v. Lawson (Aug. 22, 1997), Montgomery App. No. 16288, 1997 WL 476684. “Contrastingly, the decision as to which of several competing inferences, suggested by the evidence in the record, should be preferred, is a matter in which an appellate judge is at least equally qualified, by reason and experience, to venture an opinion.” Id. A judgment should be reversed as being against the manifest weight of the evidence only in exceptional circumstances. Martin, 20 Ohio App.3d at 175, 20 OBR 215, 485 N.E.2d 717.

{¶ 7} According to the state’s evidence, over the course of 13 years, Adrian had a sexual relationship with Meera Good. Good had been introduced to Adrian by Judy Simons. Throughout their relationship, Adrian would provide Good money and gifts, often in exchange for sexual conduct. This relationship continued after Good’s marriage. In November 2004, Good was 28 years old, married, and had three children.

{¶ 8} At the end of November 2004, Good took her seven-year-old daughter and two of her daughter’s friends to Howard’s IGA, a grocery store in St. Paris, Ohio, to purchase ice cream. Adrian approached Good, greeted her, and talked to her briefly. Shortly thereafter, Adrian telephoned Good and told her about an incident about six months before where he had had a young girl drugged and he had placed his penis into the child’s mouth and hand while she was asleep. Adrian asked Good if she could get one of her daughter’s friends so that he could *305 do it again. Adrian referred to the two girls that he had seen in Good’s car at the grocery store.

{¶ 9} Good obtained a tape recorder and called Adrian back. She told him that she had “been contemplating everything that we talked about yesterday.” Adrian repeated his desire to have sexual contact with young girls. He told Good that she could tell the child that they were going for a ride and then slip her a sleeping pill before the ride. Adrian emphasized that “we can’t let them wake up. That just cannot happen.”

{¶ 10} Good took the tape recording to her pastor, who directed her to law enforcement. On November 23, 2004, Good played the tape for Detective Lieutenant Rick Cron of the Piqua police department. After talking with Good and listening to the tape, Cron concluded that Champaign County had jurisdiction over the offense. Cron told Good that he would contact Champaign County and would pass along the tape and the recording of his interview with Good. Shortly thereafter, Cron contacted Detective Karen Gould of the Champaign County Sheriffs Office.

{¶ 11} Good was subsequently contacted by Gould. Gould testified that she encouraged Good to “get as much information as possible from [Adrian] on tape,” and she provided Good with a topical script to follow. Over the next month, Good had numerous taped conversations with Adrian, in which she seemingly attempted to obtain an eight-year-old and a ten-year-old girl for Adrian. The tapes revealed that Adrian’s plan regarding an eight-year-old child was for Good to drug her and to drive her to Adrian’s home, where Adrian would get in the back of the van and engage in sexual conduct with her while she was asleep. Adrian’s plan for a ten-year-old child was for Adrian and the child to play “the game,” as Adrian called it. Here, Good was to bring the child to Adrian’s home. Adrian would pretend to be asleep and the child would be encouraged to “experiment on him” and to have oral and vaginal intercourse.

{¶ 12} In December 2004, Good informed Adrian that she needed money and that she wanted to be paid for her efforts. On December 20, 2004, Adrian and Good met in the parking lot behind Howard’s IGA. Adrian entered Good’s van and gave her two $100 bills.

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Bluebook (online)
859 N.E.2d 1007, 168 Ohio App. 3d 300, 2006 Ohio 4143, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-adrian-ohioctapp-2006.