State v. Dibble

959 N.E.2d 540, 195 Ohio App. 3d 189
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 4, 2011
DocketNo. 10AP-648
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 959 N.E.2d 540 (State v. Dibble) 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. Dibble, 959 N.E.2d 540, 195 Ohio App. 3d 189 (Ohio Ct. App. 2011).

Opinions

Bryant, Presiding Judge

{¶ 1} Plaintiff-appellant, state of Ohio, appeals from a judgment of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas granting the motion to suppress of defendantappellee, Lawrence A. Dibble. Because the trial court’s findings of fact support its decision to suppress the evidence the state obtained through the warrant at issue, we affirm.

I. Facts and Procedural History

{¶ 2} On February 3, 2010, Upper Arlington Police Detective Andrew Wuertz asked a Franklin County municipal court judge to approve a search warrant for [194]*194defendant’s home. Detective Wuertz sought the warrant after speaking with two young women, E.S. and E.K., who reported their past experiences with defendant, a theater instructor at a private school for students enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grade. In the affidavit supporting the warrant, Wuertz referred to E.S. as victim No. 1 and E.K. as victim No. 2.

{¶ 3} According to the warrant affidavit, defendant “inappropriately” touched the vaginal area and buttocks of his student, victim No. 1, while they were at school. Victim No. 1 later confronted defendant about the incident, and defendant said, “I just wasn’t thinking.” Victim No. 2 “stated she also had inappropriate contact with” defendant. The incident regarding victim No. 2 occurred after victim No. 2 graduated from the school where defendant was her teacher, and it involved defendant’s taking photographs “of her nude vaginal area during one of their meetings where inappropriate touching was involved.” Wuertz claimed that he needed to search defendant’s home because defendant’s “computers, camera[s], media storage devices, etc. may contain correspondence, and photos to substantiate victim No. 1 and victim No. 2’s claims.”

{¶4} The municipal court judge approved the warrant, and when it was executed, police seized a laptop computer, camera, and several tapes and DVDs from defendant’s home. Based on the evidence obtained from that search, defendant was indicted on 20 counts of voyeurism; he also was charged with one count of sexual imposition for sexually touching E.S. None of the charges pertained to E.K.

{¶ 5} Defendant filed a motion to suppress evidence obtained from the search of his home, arguing that Wuertz had improperly referred to E.K. as a victim in the search-warrant affidavit, given that E.K. was an adult and their sexual activity was consensual. The trial court held a hearing on the motion on June 29, 2010. At the commencement of the hearing, defense counsel noted, “I think initially, Judge, I do need to make a preliminary showing for the specific issue I’ve raised here.” The defense then called Wuertz to testify.

{¶ 6} Wuertz began by conceding that the information he possessed regarding E.S. gave him no probable cause to search defendant’s home. The subsequent questioning thus focused on E.K., or victim No. 2. Defense counsel inquired of Wuertz about using the term “victim No. 2” to refer to E.K., which the detective admitted was used six times in the affidavit “in order to get a search warrant.” In response to the questions, Wuertz agreed that although E.K. had told him that defendant took pictures of her and sexually touched her, she also had said that those incidents occurred after she turned 18 and was no longer a student at the school where defendant taught. Wuertz, however, stated that whether E.K. had consented to the activity was debatable. Wuertz testified that defendant and E.K. were consenting adults only in a strict definition of that phrase. In [195]*195response to counsel’s asking whether E.K. was merely a jilted lover whose concern about her relationship with defendant arose only after she learned of defendant’s incident with E.S., Wuertz replied, “I think it’s inaccurate to call her a lover.” The detective nonetheless acknowledged that E.K. had said that defendant visited her at her home in Maine, went to New York City with her to see a Broadway show, and shared a carriage ride in Central Park. Wuertz had not filed any charges pertaining to E.K.

{¶ 7} Despite these activities, the detective stated that he thought E.K. was a victim. Defense counsel explored that statement, inquiring of other paperwork the detective completed in the case. The detective’s testimony revealed that he did not include E.K. as a victim in any other form he completed on the case, including the complaint and the U-10.100, both of which were completed either the same day or the day before the affidavit supporting the search-warrant request was presented to the court. The detective conceded that he had no basis to charge defendant with a crime as to E.K.

{¶ 8} When defense counsel finished his direct examination of Wuertz, he said he thought he had “gotten through * * * the window I need to get through.” The trial court asked the prosecutor whether he was “admitting” that the defense had met its burden and “moving on to the State’s part of their case,” or if he was “simply cross-examining this witness to rebut [the defense’s] burden.” The prosecutor said, “I’m simply cross-examining the witness.”

{¶ 9} Wuertz first testified on cross-examination about defendant’s sexual activity with E.S. According to the detective, E.S. had been defendant’s student since seventh grade, and E.S. considered defendant a father figure. In April of her senior year, E.S. was working as defendant’s aide and rehearsing lines with him. Defendant told E.S., “ ‘As a reward every time I get my lines correct, I get to touch your stockings.’ And she allowed him to do that.” Another time, after defendant correctly recited his lines, he said, “I believe I deserve a reward for that.” E.S. was standing in front of him, and he brushed his fingers against her vaginal area and felt her buttocks. E.S. told Wuertz that the sexual contact was unwanted and that she had written defendant a letter about it. Defendant tore the letter and threw it away, saying, “You can’t tell anyone about this, or it will ruin my life.”

{¶ 10} Defendant also required E.S. to give him back massages, lifting his shirt for her to “touch her hands against his skin.” Although not included in the affidavit supporting the warrant, Wuertz’s testimony included information that defendant also took pictures of her and other students in unitards, instructing the students not to wear anything underneath the suits, which were “practically see-through, if not see-through.” Wuertz concluded that defendant had “brainwashed” or manipulated E.S. so she would do whatever he asked of her.

[196]*196{¶ 11} Wuertz thought E.K. was also a victim of defendant because “[s]he described a very similar situation to what [E.S.] had described.” Wuertz stated that E.K’s relationship with defendant started when she became involved in theater in the seventh grade. She, too, considered defendant a father figure, and defendant would even refer to himself as her stepfather. She also was a former aide to defendant who taught E.S. how to give him massages. Wuertz said that he thought E.K. was a victim because defendant deceived her into allowing him to photograph her vaginal area under the guise of wanting to study her “internal energy.”

{¶ 12} Wuertz testified that when he was writing the warrant affidavit, he thought defendant might be charged with a crime for his conduct with E.K., and he stated that “as of today I still consider her a victim.” According to Wuertz, he had described, in the warrant affidavit, defendant’s touching E.K.

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Related

State v. Dibble
2017 Ohio 9321 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2017)
State v. Jackson
2015 Ohio 3520 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2015)
State v. Dibble
2012 Ohio 4630 (Ohio Supreme Court, 2012)
State v. Perry
2012 Ohio 4273 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2012)

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Bluebook (online)
959 N.E.2d 540, 195 Ohio App. 3d 189, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-dibble-ohioctapp-2011.