State v. Ginyard

Ohio Court of Appeals·Decided June 15, 2026·No. 9-25-12·Published

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT

MARION COUNTY

STATE OF OHIO, CASE NO. 9-25-12 PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE, v.

RAKEEM RAMERE GINYARD, OPINION AND JUDGMENT ENTRY

DEFENDANT-APPELLANT.

Appeal from Marion County Common Pleas Court Trial Court No. 22-CR-401

Judgment Affirmed

Date of Decision: June 15, 2026

APPEARANCES:

W. Joseph Edwards for Appellant Allison M. Kesler for Appellee

WILLAMOWSKI, J.

{¶1} Defendant-appellant Rakeem R. Ginyard (“Ginyard”) appeals the judgment of the Marion County Court of Common Pleas, arguing that the trial court erred by not permitting him to represent himself and that his rights under the Confrontation Clause of the United States Constitution were violated. For the reasons set forth below, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.

Facts and Procedural History

{¶2} Ginyard would frequently spend weekends at a house in Marion County where his brother and ten-year-old niece, K., lived. On June 5 or 6, 2022, K. was taken to the emergency room to be evaluated by a sexual assault nurse examiner (“SANE nurse”).1 Michelle Hasenkamp Kaiser (“Kaiser”) worked as a forensic interviewer at Nationwide Children’s Hospital (“Nationwide Hospital”). She began to conduct a forensic interview with K. at around 4:45 A.M. on June 6, 2022. While Kaiser was speaking with K., a SANE nurse was watching their conversation from an observation room.

{¶3} During this recorded forensic interview, K. indicated that she had been sexually abused on multiple occasions by her uncle, Ginyard, at her house in Marion County. K. identified the vaginal area on an anatomical diagram as the area where the inappropriate contact occurred. After speaking with K., Kaiser consulted with

1 The trial testimony indicates that K. either arrived at the emergency room late at night on June 5, 2025 or early in the morning on June 6, 2025.

the SANE nurse about how to proceed with the medical examination. Based upon what K. had reported, samples were taken from inside K.’s vaginal cavity for use in DNA testing.

{¶4} On July 7, 2022, Detective Michael Diem (“Detective Diem”)

conducted an interview with Ginyard. After being informed of his Miranda rights, Ginyard said that he was there to “do the right thing.” (Ex. 2). He also admitted that he had “f**ked up” and “betrayed” his brother. (Ex. 2). The following exchange then occurred:

[Detective Diem:] How long after you moved did they [Ginyard’s brother’s family] come to Marion?

[Ginyard:] Um, I’d say October or November. I’m not sure.

[Detective Diem:] Shortly after that.

[Ginyard:] Yeah.

[Detective Diem:] This was last year, 2021, right?

[Ginyard:] Yeah.

...

[Detective Diem:] They move to Marion. You start visiting. How soon was it when you two started having some kind of sexual relationship?

[Ginyard:] I’d say, October. Like, the first month.

[Detective Diem:] The first month. But nothing before that had happened. No kind of sexual intercourse. No oral. Nothing like that.

[Ginyard:] No.

...

[Detective Diem:] How many times do you think you and [K.] . . .

have sex?

[Ginyard:] I would say twice a month.

[Detective Diem:] Twice a month at least, probably?

[Ginyard:] Yeah.

...

[Detective Diem:] So from October

[Ginyard:] to June. But I would say January, February, I didn’t see her.

[Detective Diem:] The last time when this got reported to us. It was a weekend you had visited. And you guys—she had told the hospital because she had went and got an exam—that you guys had had sex that night before.

[Ginyard:] Yeah.

[Detective Diem:] Where was that at?

[Ginyard:] In her room.

...

[Detective Diem:] Now, when you and her, was there anything ever oral between the two of you?

[Ginyard:] I did oral.

[Detective Diem]: You did oral?

[Ginyard:] Yeah.

[Detective Diem]: Did she ever do oral for you?

[Ginyard:] No.

[Detective Diem:] And then intercourse every time you guys were together?

[Ginyard:] Not every time.

[Detective Diem:] Every week?

[Ginyard:] No.

[Detective Diem:] Every other weekend?

[Ginyard:] No. It was twice a month.

[Detective Diem:] When you would come over maybe, twice a week?

[Ginyard:] It was twice a month.

(Ex. 2). He also indicated that, when they had intercourse, he did not finish inside her but in his hand. Ginyard would then tell her to clean up in the bathroom. He also agreed that his DNA would “probably” be found in the sample taken from K. (Ex. 2). The police then obtained samples from Ginyard for the purpose of conducting DNA testing.

{¶5} On July 13, 2022, Ginyard was charged with six counts of rape in violation of R.C. 2907.02(A)(1)(b), first-degree felonies. On March 9, 2023, Ginyard filed a motion to determine his competency to stand trial. On September 15, 2023, the trial court found that Ginyard was not competent to stand trial and ordered him to receive treatment for a period of one year. On February 6, 2024, the trial court found that Ginyard was competent to stand trial.

{¶6} On April 11, 2025, Ginyard appeared before the trial court on two separate occasions. At a hearing held at 11:54 A.M., Ginyard indicated that he wished to proceed pro se. In response, the trial court finished addressing the matters that had occasioned this hearing; did not permit Ginyard to immediately discharge defense counsel; preliminarily denied his request; and concluded the hearing.

{¶7} At a hearing held at 1:56 P.M., the trial court returned to the matter of Ginyard’s representation. The trial court questioned Ginyard extensively about the legal process; discussed the charges at issue; described the benefits of proceeding with counsel; and emphasized the potential risks involved with self-representation. After this colloquy, Ginyard said, “I’ll let him [defense counsel] represent me.” (Apr. 11 Pt. 2 Tr. 20).

{¶8} On April 29, 2025, this case proceeded to a jury trial where Ginyard was represented by counsel. The prosecution introduced the video recordings of the forensic interview that was conducted with K. at Nationwide Hospital and the police interview of Ginyard with Detective Diem. The State also called Kaiser and Detective Diem as witnesses at trial.

{¶9} Further, Amy Wanken (“Wanken”), a forensic scientist at the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (“BCI”), testified about the DNA testing performed in this case. Wanken stated that, after the preliminary testing was done by the staff at BCI, she examined the data, performed the required calculations, and documented her conclusions in a written report. She found that the DNA recovered

from the K.’s vaginal cavity was consistent with the profile from Ginyard’s DNA sample.

{¶10} At trial, defense counsel objected to Wanken’s testimony on the grounds that the preliminary testing on the DNA samples was performed by analysts who were not called to testify at trial. After hearing arguments from the parties, the trial court overruled the objection. On April 30, 2025, the jury returned verdicts of guilty on all six of the charges against Ginyard. On May 13, 2025, the trial court issued its judgment entry of sentencing, ordering Ginyard to serve an aggregate prison term of sixty years.

{¶11} Ginyard filed his notice of appeal on May 15, 2025 and raises the following two assignments of error:

First Assignment of Error

The trial court violated the defendant-appellant’s constitutional rights when it did not allow him to exercise his right to self-

representation.

Second Assignment of Error

The trial court violated the defendant-appellant’s constitutional right of confrontation when the victim did not testify and when it accepted the testimony of the forensic scientist when she did not actually do the testing.

First Assignment of Error

{¶12} Ginyard argues that the trial court denied him his right to self-

representation by urging him to proceed with counsel.

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