State v. Leonard, Unpublished Decision (6-21-2001)

CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 21, 2001
DocketNo. 00AP-1229.
StatusUnpublished

This text of State v. Leonard, Unpublished Decision (6-21-2001) (State v. Leonard, Unpublished Decision (6-21-2001)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law.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State v. Leonard, Unpublished Decision (6-21-2001), (Ohio Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

DECISION
Defendant-appellant, Douglas Lamont Leonard, appeals from a judgment of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas determining him to be a sexual predator pursuant to R.C. Chapter 2950, Ohio's sexual predator registration and notification statute.

Appellant was indicted on three counts of rape, two counts of felonious sexual penetration, and a single count of gross sexual imposition. The alleged victim, aged seven, was the daughter of appellant's live-in girlfriend. The following facts surrounding the offenses are drawn from the post-sentence investigation ("PSI") report found in the record.

On the night of November 22, 1995, the victim's mother saw appellant run out of the child's bedroom into the bathroom. The mother then looked into the child's bedroom and saw the victim curled up on the bed against the wall. The victim's panties were down to her ankles, and she began crying when asked what had happened. The victim later told hospital personnel that appellant had penetrated her vagina with his finger and penis, and had ejaculated.

The victim's mother confronted appellant immediately after the victim told her what had happened. Appellant initially denied any sexual contact with the child, but eventually admitted that "things had happened, but they only happened that one time." (PSI at 4.) The victim's mother threw appellant out of the home, and the police eventually became involved. At later interviews, the victim could not remember how many times appellant had engaged in vaginal intercourse with her, but stated that it happened a number of times over an extended period of time. The victim described the sexual abuse as taking place in various forms, including digital penetration, genital penetration, and cunnilingus. The victim described the abuse as taking place in various rooms of the house, including the living room, mother's bedroom, child's bedroom, and the bathroom.

An examination at Children's Hospital on November 23, 1995, the day after the victim's mother became aware of the abuse, showed that the victim suffered genital lacerations, an enlarged hymenal opening, and scarring. Some of the injuries were determined to be less than twenty-four hours old.

Five days after the victim's mother discovered the abuse, on November 27, 1995, appellant voluntarily went to Columbus police headquarters and made statements admitting various sexual acts with the victim. A transcript of appellant's interview is found in the record. Appellant admitted to engaging in vaginal intercourse with the victim, and stated variously that this had gone on for one, two, or more months. Appellant also stated that, if the victim's mother had not discovered the abuse, appellant would have continued his sexual abuse of the victim. Appellant recounted in detail a series of incidents in which he engaged in progressively greater sexual contact with the victim, culminating in vaginal intercourse. According to appellant, the victim wanted to engage in these acts with him, and discouraged him from stopping. Appellant generally took the position that the victim had initiated the sexual encounters, taking advantage of his weakness and inability to resist his sexual desires.

Appellant subsequently pleaded guilty to two of the rape counts in the indictment, without the allegation in each that appellant had used force or the threat of force to compel compliance. The court sentenced appellant to concurrent sentences of six to twenty-five years on each of the two counts.

Appellant was returned to court for a sexual predator hearing under R.C. Chapter 2950 on January 21, 2000. At the hearing the state introduced four exhibits: a copy of the indictment; a copy of appellant's criminal record; a copy of appellant's institutional records, including a post-sentence investigation; and a transcript of appellant's interview with police.

Counsel for appellant presented the testimony of Carl Miller, who had conducted a sex offender assessment of appellant in December 1996. Miller was employed at Madison Correctional Institute as a psychology assistant, undertaking sex offender risk assessments at the Sex Offender Risk Reduction Center. Appellant scored a total of eleven on the risk assessment, indicating a low risk of reoffending. Miller's assessment of appellant was predicated in large part on the fact that appellant had "been convicted of only one sex offense." (State's Exh. at 3.) Miller characterized appellant's sexual attraction towards children as a "temporary lapse of control or judgment." (State's Exh. at 3.) Miller considered appellant to be a "regressed child molester" rather than a "fixated child molester." (Tr. at 21.) Miller described regressed child molesters as those who, under certain circumstances or stress levels, will take advantage of an opportunity for sexual contact with children, regressing into finding children, adolescents, and under-aged persons as sexually attractive. In contrast, Miller described fixated child molesters as typical pedophiles whose attraction to children cannot be controlled or changed. Miller downplayed the repeated molestation described by appellant, finding it more significant that there was only a single victim. Miller also discounted appellant's statement to investigators that appellant could not say it would not happen again. Miller took this statement as an indication of appellant's desire to obtain help in controlling his behavior.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial court found appellant should be classified as a sexual predator. In support of its ruling, the court cited the youthful age of the victim, appellant's status as an authority figure in the victim's household, the occurrence of multiple sex acts over a series of multiple encounters, and appellant's own statement that he could not say that it would not happen again. The court also described appellant's efforts to blame the victim as ridiculous, and stated that the possible use of force by appellant should be considered a factor.

Upon appeal to this court, the matter was reversed and remanded for further proceedings. State v. Leonard (Sept. 7, 2000), Franklin App. No. 00AP-185, unreported. This court's reversal of the trial court's sexual predator finding was based on language employed by the trial court when rendering its decision at a predator hearing, which seemed to indicate that the court had relied on factors not statutorily enumerated in R.C.2950.09(B)(2), or falling within R.C. 2950.09(B)(2)(j), "[a]ny additional behavioral characteristics that contribute to the offender's conduct." Specifically, we found that the trial court had improperly considered the circumstances of appellant's plea-bargain in relation to the indictment including the prior use of force allegations, and the trial court's statement that, if appellant were to reoffend, the court itself would look bad for failing to classify him as a sexual predator. Most significantly, however, our prior decision noted that the trial court's recitation of factors underlying its decision omitted any consideration, discussion, or assessment of the expert testimony presented by appellant through the testimony of his psychological expert witness, Miller. We accordingly remanded the matter to the trial court for further proceedings.

Upon remand, the court of common pleas again considered the matter and once again found that appellant should be classified as a sexual predator. The court relied specifically on certain factors found in R.C.2950.09(B)(2). Under R.C. 2950.09(B)(2)(a), the court noted that appellant was twenty-seven years old at the time of the offenses, ruling out the crimes as a mere youthful indiscretion. Under R.C.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
State v. Leonard, Unpublished Decision (6-21-2001), Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-leonard-unpublished-decision-6-21-2001-ohioctapp-2001.