State v. Barnett

2012 Ohio 3748
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 20, 2012
Docket6-12-03
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 2012 Ohio 3748 (State v. Barnett) 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. Barnett, 2012 Ohio 3748 (Ohio Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

[Cite as State v. Barnett, 2012-Ohio-3748.]

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT HARDIN COUNTY

STATE OF OHIO,

PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE, CASE NO. 6-12-03

v.

CHRISTOFER EUGENE BARNETT, OPINION

DEFENDANT-APPELLANT.

Appeal from Hardin County Common Pleas Court Trial Court No. 20102270 CRI

Judgment Affirmed

Date of Decision: August 20, 2012

APPEARANCES:

Andrew R. Bucher for Appellant

Bradford W. Bailey and Destiny R. Hudson for Appellee Case No. 6-12-03

PRESTON, J.

{¶1} Defendant-appellant, Christofer Eugene Barnett, appeals the Hardin

County Court of Common Pleas judgment entry of conviction and sentence. For

the reasons that follow, we affirm.

{¶2} On March 3, 2011, the Hardin County Grand Jury indicted Barnett on:

Count One of importuning in violation of R.C. 2907.07(C)(1), a third degree

felony; Count Two of attempted importuning in violation of R.C. 2923.02(A) and

2907.07(C)(1), a fourth degree felony; Count Three of importuning in violation of

R.C. 2907.07(C)(2), a third degree felony; Count Four of attempted importuning

in violation of R.C. 2923.02(A) and 2907.07(C)(2), a fourth degree felony; and

Count Five of possession of criminal tools in violation of R.C. 2923.24(A), a fifth

degree felony. (Doc. No. 2).

{¶3} On March 22, 2011, Barnett was arraigned on the indictment and

entered pleas of not guilty. (Doc. No. 6); (Mar. 22, 2011 Tr. at 3).

{¶4} On July 22, 2011, the State filed a motion to dismiss Counts One and

Two of the indictment, which the trial court granted that same day. (Doc. Nos. 19-

20).

{¶5} On November 14, 2011, the matter proceeded to a bench trial. The

State presented the testimony of three witnesses at trial. Georgina Marie Osborn

testified that her daughter was born in February 2001 and was nine years old in

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November 2010. (Nov. 14, 2011 Tr. at 11-12). Osborn testified that, in February

2010, her daughter was given her first cell phone for her ninth birthday, and a

subsequent prepaid cell phone in September 2010, which Osborn identified as

State’s Ex. 1. (Id. at 12-15). Osborn testified that, around October 30, 2010, she

was looking through the phone numbers in her daughter’s cell phone and found a

phone number that she did not recognize. (Id. at 17). Osborn opened and read

about four text messages sent to her daughter’s cell phone from the unknown

phone number. (Id. at 17-22). Osborn testified that her daughter indicated that

she did not know who the person was who was texting her. (Id. at 20). The text

messages consisted of “hi, who is this, and I think an age,” according to Osborn.

(Id. at 22). Osborn’s daughter, who was nine, sent a return text message indicating

that she was “twenty of [sic] twenty two.” (Id.). Osborn testified that she took the

cell phone away from her daughter, and she sent a message stating her daughter

was nine years old, and the unknown sender should not be messaging her

daughter. (Id.). Osborn testified that she did not receive any response from this

text message, but a couple days later she received a text message indicating that

the unknown sender was at work and wanted to say “hi.” (Id. at 24). Osborn

testified that, over the next five days, she began responding to the text messages

she was receiving on her daughter’s cell phone, and she “started getting messages

that * * * [her] nine year old daughter should not be getting on her phone.” (Id. at

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27). During part of the texting conversation, the unknown sender indicated that

they should not be “having this conversation” because of the age of Osborn’s

daughter. (Id.). Osborn testified that she took the phone to the Kenton Police

Department on November 6th or 7th of 2010, and she gave Detective Beach

permission to use her daughter’s cell phone. (Id. at 27-29). Osborn testified that

the text messages she received on her daughter’s cell phone were still on the cell

phone which was admitted into evidence. (Id. at 28-29). On cross-examination,

Osborn testified that her daughter was the person who initiated the texting. (Id. at

30-31).

{¶6} Kenton Police Department Lieutenant Rob Lutes testified that, on

December 7, 2010, Osborne reported that, from November 30, 2010 to December

7, 2010, sexual text messages were sent to her daughter on her cell phone. (Id. at

32-37). Lutes testified that he turned the case over to Detective Beach. (Id. at 38).

{¶7} Kenton Police Department Detective Brian C. Beach testified that

Lieutenant Lutes gave him a case involving sexual text messages being sent to a

nine-year-old girl’s cell phone. (Id. at 42-44). Beach testified that he took

custody of the minor’s cell phone, which he identified as State’s exhibit 1, and

obtained Osborn’s permission to use the child’s cell phone. (Id. at 45, 48). Beach

testified that, after glancing over the past few text messages sent to the cell phone,

he started texting the unknown person to initiate a conversation. (Id.). Beach

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testified that during the text messaging between the unknown person and himself,

the unknown person sent a picture of himself, which Beach identified as Chris

Barnett. (Id. at 47-48). Beach testified that he saved the text messages he

received and sent on the cell phone, and had prosecutors submit a subpoena to

Verizon Wireless to preserve the text messages. (Id. at 51, 72). Beach also

testified that he photographed each of the text messages and burned the images

onto CDs he identified as State’s Exhibits 4A, B, C, D, and E. (Id. at 52). Beach

testified that he printed out the images of the text messages and compiled them

into a document identified as State’s exhibit 2. (Id. at 55-56). Beach testified that

the text messages began on December 7, 2010 at 3:12 p.m. and ended December 8,

2010 at 1:50 p.m. (Id. at 57). Beach testified that the text messages were

received from phone number 567-674-2896, later identified as Barnett’s cell

phone number. (Id. at 58). Beach testified about nature of the text messages

Barnett sent as follows:

He knows I was nine, I told him. He knew that I was nine because he

texted me back that he wasn’t sure whether he wanted to have sex

with me because I was nine. He then goes into explaining how I can

pleasure myself. * * * He tells me that I have to get naked, I can use

my finger, put it in my vagina, pull it in and out, and it should feel

good. We continue on, he says a penis is always bigger, was bigger

-5- Case No. 6-12-03

than my finger, so it would hurt. Then he goes on to explain that

girls like to have their vagina licked, and guys like to have their

penis sucked on. He then explains that it’s like sucking on a sucker.

This goes on. During the night on the 7th, roughly around midnight

while he’s still at work, I tell him hey I gotta go to bed. Goes to bed

and then the next day roughly around noon, one o’clock, starting

texting him again because he’s telling me he’s gonna be doing his

laundry. Start talking. He said he thought about it that night,

decided he could not have sex with me because I was too young, and

I needed to find somebody my own age. (Id. at 63-64).

Beach further testified that, in one particular text, Barnett indicated that he would

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Bluebook (online)
2012 Ohio 3748, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-barnett-ohioctapp-2012.