State v. DeGarmo

2019 Ohio 4050
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 1, 2019
DocketCT2018-0061
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 2019 Ohio 4050 (State v. DeGarmo) 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. DeGarmo, 2019 Ohio 4050 (Ohio Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

[Cite as State v. DeGarmo, 2019-Ohio-4050.]

COURT OF APPEALS MUSKINGUM COUNTY, OHIO FIFTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

STATE OF OHIO JUDGES: Hon. John W. Wise, P. J. Plaintiff-Appellee Hon. Craig R. Baldwin, J. Hon. Earle E. Wise, Jr., J. -vs- Case No. CT2018-0061 DANNY DeGARMO

Defendant-Appellant OPINION

CHARACTER OF PROCEEDING: Criminal Appeal from the Court of Common Pleas, Case No. CR2018-0285

JUDGMENT: Affirmed in Part; Reversed in Part and Remanded

DATE OF JUDGMENT ENTRY: October 1, 2019

APPEARANCES:

For Plaintiff-Appellee For Defendant-Appellant

D. MICHAEL HADDOX JAMES A. ANZELMO PROSECUTING ATTORNEY 446 Howland Drive TAYLOR P. BENNINGTON Gahanna, Ohio 43230 ASSISTANT PROSECUTOR 27 North Fifth Street, P.O. Box 189 Zanesville, Ohio 43702-0189 Muskingum County, Case No. CT2018-0061 2

Wise, John, P. J.

{¶1} Defendant-Appellant Danny DeGarmo appeals his conviction and sentence

entered by the Muskingum County Court of Common Pleas on two counts of gross sexual

imposition and one count of abduction following a guilty plea.

{¶2} Plaintiff-Appellee is the State of Ohio.

STATEMENT OF THE FACTS AND CASE

{¶3} The facts and procedural history are as follows.

{¶4} On February 2, 2016, Mary R. reported that her then thirteen ( 13) year old

daughter, "J.M.C.S.", had reported that Danny DeGarmo, "Appellant," had touched her

with his penis in her private area when she was about six (6) years old and in

kindergarten; this would have been between August 15, 2008, and June 1, 2009. (Plea

T. at 11).

{¶5} J.M.C.S. stated the event occurred inside a garage next to Mary's mother's

house in Frazeysburg, Muskingum County, Ohio. Appellant is Mary R.'s brother. J.M.C.S.

stated she had not told anyone about this incident because she was afraid. (Plea T. at

12).

{¶6} J.M.C.S. was interviewed at CAC on June 21, 2016. J.M.C.S. stated that

when she was six (6) years old, Appellant was in the garage next to her grandmother's

house. J.M.C.S. went into the garage to tell Appellant she was going to a friend's house.

As she was leaving, Appellant grabbed her arm and pulled her back into the garage and

pulled her on top of him while he was sitting on a metal folding chair. The child was facing

him and she heard him unbutton and unzip his jeans. She stated that he moved the layer

of her shorts over and rubbed his penis on the skin of her vagina. She stated that his Muskingum County, Case No. CT2018-0061 3

penis only touched the outside of her vagina. J.M.C.S. stated that it felt “nasty, gross and

weird”, and that she did not like it. (Plea T. at 12). J.M.C.S. stated that at that time her

grandmother then yelled for her, asking where she was, and that Appellant yelled back

and said the child had gone to a friend's house. Appellant then told the child that he would

hurt her if she told anyone. (Plea T. at 12-13).

{¶7} On May 17, 2018, Appellant was indicted on one count of Gross Sexual

Imposition, a felony of the third degree, in violation of R.C. §2907.05(A)(4), one count of

Gross Sexual Imposition, a felony of the third degree, in violation of R.C. §2907.05(A)(1),

and one count of Kidnapping, with a sexual motivation specification and a sexually violent

predator specification, a felony of the first degree, in violation of R.C. §2905.01(A)(4).

{¶8} On August 3, 2018, Appellant entered a plea of guilty to: Count One: Gross

Sexual Imposition, a felony of the third degree, in violation of R.C. §2907.05(A)(4), Count

Two: Gross Sexual Imposition, a felony of the third degree, in violation of R.C.

§2907.05(A)(1), and Count Three: Abduction, a felony of the third degree, in violation of

R.C. §2905.02(A)(1).

{¶9} On September 17, 2018, the trial court sentenced Appellant as follows:

Count One: a stated prison term of 60 months

Count Two: a stated prison term of 60 months

Count Three: a stated prison term of 36 months

{¶10} The periods of incarceration were ordered to be served consecutively to

each other and consecutively to a prison sentence he is currently serving on an unrelated

offense. Muskingum County, Case No. CT2018-0061 4

{¶11} Appellant now appeals, raising the following assignments of error for review:

ASSIGNMENTS OF ERROR

{¶12} “I. DANNY DEGARMO DID NOT KNOWINGLY, INTELLIGENTLY AND

VOLUNTARILY PLEAD GUILTY, IN VIOLATION OF HIS DUE PROCESS RIGHTS

UNDER THE FIFTH AND FOURTEENTH AMENDMENTS TO THE UNITED STATES

CONSTITUTION AND SECTION SIXTEEN, ARTICLE ONE OF THE OHIO

CONSTITUTION.

{¶13} “II. THE TRIAL COURT ERRONEOUSLY FAILED TO MERGE

DEGARMO'S GROSS SEXUAL IMPOSITION OFFENSES, IN VIOLATION OF THE

DOUBLE JEOPARDY CLAUSE OF THE FIFTH AMENDMENT TO THE UNITED

STATES CONSTITUTION.

{¶14} “III. THE TRIAL COURT ERRONEOUSLY FAILED TO MERGE

DEGARMO'S GROSS SEXUAL IMPOSITION OFFENSES WITH THE ABDUCTION

OFFENSE, IN VIOLATION OF THE DOUBLE JEOPARDY CLAUSE OF THE FIFTH

AMENDMENT TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION

{¶15} “IV. DEGARMO RECEIVED INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL,

IN VIOLATION OF THE SIXTH AMENDMENT TO THE UNITED STATES

CONSTITUTION AND SECTION 10, ARTICLE I OF THE OHIO CONSTITUTION.”

I.

{¶16} In his first assignment of error, Appellant argues that his guilty plea was not

made knowingly, intelligently or voluntarily.

{¶17} At the oral argument proceedings held on July 30, 2019, Appellant, through

counsel, withdrew this first assignment of error. Muskingum County, Case No. CT2018-0061 5

{¶18} Accordingly, we need not address this assignment of error.

II.

{¶19} In his second assignment of error, Appellant argues the trial court erred in

failing to merge the two gross sexual imposition offenses with each other. We agree.

{¶20} Appellant herein pled guilty to two offenses of gross sexual imposition, in

violation of R.C. §2907.05(A)(4) and (A)(1), which provides:

{¶21} R.C. § 2907.05 Gross Sexual Imposition

(A) No person shall have sexual contact with another, not the spouse

of the offender; cause another, not the spouse of the offender, to have

sexual contact with the offender; or cause two or more other persons to

have sexual contact when any of the following applies:

(1) The offender knows that the sexual contact is offensive to the

other person, or one of the other persons, or is reckless in that regard.

(2) The offender knows that the other person's, or one of the other

person's, ability to appraise the nature of or control the offender's or

touching person's conduct is substantially impaired.

(3) The offender knows that the other person, or one of the other

persons, submits because of being unaware of the sexual contact.

(4) The other person, or one of the other persons, is thirteen years

of age or older but less than sixteen years of age, whether or not the

offender knows the age of such person, and the offender is at least eighteen

years of age and four or more years older than such other person. Muskingum County, Case No. CT2018-0061 6

{¶22} “Sexual contact” is defined as “any touching of an erogenous zone of

another, including without limitation the thigh, genitals, buttock, pubic region, or, if the

person is a female, a breast, for the purpose of sexually arousing or gratifying either

person.” R.C. § 2907.01(B).

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

Related

State v. Sims
2024 Ohio 250 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2024)
State v. Smith
2023 Ohio 866 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2023)
State v. Knight
2022 Ohio 1787 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2022)
State v. Redden
2020 Ohio 878 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2020)
State v. Cole
2019 Ohio 5425 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2019)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2019 Ohio 4050, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-degarmo-ohioctapp-2019.