State v. Ortiz

925 N.E.2d 662, 185 Ohio App. 3d 733
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 11, 2010
DocketNo. 08CA009502
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 925 N.E.2d 662 (State v. Ortiz) 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. Ortiz, 925 N.E.2d 662, 185 Ohio App. 3d 733 (Ohio Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

Dickinson, Presiding Judge.

INTRODUCTION

{¶ 1} Eric Ortiz had sex with T.B., which she said was without her consent. The grand jury indicted him for rape, and following a bench trial, the court convicted him of the lesser included offense of sexual battery. The court sentenced him to five years of community control and told him that he would be classified as a Tier III sex offender under the Adam Walsh Act. Ortiz has appealed his conviction and sexual-offender classification, arguing that the evidence did not support the court’s consideration of sexual battery as a lesser included offense, that his conviction is against the manifest weight of the evidence, and that the Adam Walsh Act is unconstitutional. This court affirms because the trial court’s consideration of sexual battery as a lesser included offense was supported by the evidence, Ortiz’s conviction is not against the manifest weight of the evidence, and his sex-offender classification does not violate his constitutional rights.

FACTS

{¶ 2} Ortiz and T.B. met in January 2005 through a telephone chat line. After exchanging messages, they started talking on a regular basis and having three-way conversations with Matthew Hudy, a childhood friend of Ortiz’s who had moved to Texas. Ortiz and T.B. met for the first time in person on Valentine’s Day, when T.B. invited Ortiz to her apartment. During their first meeting, Ortiz talked with T.B. and her friend Pat, who lived across the hall. Ortiz brought a plastic rose for each of the women.

{¶ 3} About a week later, T.B. invited Ortiz over to watch a movie. They talked throughout the evening and had consensual sex. Although Ortiz spent the [736]*736entire night with T.B., the next morning, they left their relationship as “[j]ust friends.” A few days later, T.B. invited Ortiz over again. They again had consensual sex, but remained “just friends” or “friends with benefits” afterwards. They continued talking during the following weeks, but did not get together again for over a month. During that time, T.B. also continued talking with Hudy and developed feelings for him. Even though she had not met him in person, she had planned to invite Hudy back to Ohio to move in with her.

{¶ 4} On April 3, 2005, Ortiz called T.B. to ask whether she would like to go to a bar to watch Wrestlemania with him. At the time of the call, T.B. was with her friend Lisa, so Ortiz invited Lisa to come too. Although Ortiz met the women at T.B.’s apartment, T.B. and Lisa drove to the bar together in Lisa’s car, and Ortiz drove separately. About an hour after they arrived, Lisa received a telephone call and had to leave. Ortiz offered to give T.B. a ride home, so she continued watching wrestling with him. Ortiz alleged that T.B. flirted with him after Lisa left, which T.B. denied, explaining that the bar was too loud for them to talk. T.B. alleged that as they were driving back to her apartment, Ortiz asked her to perform oral sex on him. Ortiz denied her allegation.

{¶ 5} When they reached T.B.’s apartment, Ortiz asked whether he could come inside to use her bathroom. T.B. agreed, because the men’s restroom at the bar had been closed. WTien Ortiz was finished in the bathroom, he came out to the living room and sat in a chair. T.B. initially sat on the arm of a couch, but after they talked for a while, moved onto the couch. A little while later, Ortiz moved next to T.B. and began kissing her. He turned toward T.B., straddled one of her legs, and began sucking on her neck and fondling her breasts.

{¶ 6} According to T.B., Ortiz suddenly pulled her off the couch. She explained that even though she is bigger than he is, he was able to get her off the couch by catching her by surprise. She said he dragged her pants down to mid-thigh, pushed her legs up in the air, pulled her underwear aside, and began having sex with her. She said that she was crying and told Ortiz “no” and “stop,” but he continued until he ejaculated. She said that after he got off her, he apologized and agreed to call Hudy to tell him what he had done.

{¶ 7} According to Ortiz, T.B. was also kissing him and helped move herself off the couch. He said that he could not have pulled her off the couch without her assistance because she is taller than he is and outweighs him by 80 pounds. He said that he unbuttoned her pants and that she lifted herself off the floor as he slid them down. He acknowledged that he pushed her legs in the air and moved her underwear aside to have sex, but explained that that was how they had had sex the previous time. He said she was moaning at first, but that after about a minute, she started saying “[o]w” and “it hurts,” so he stopped when she asked, because he had already ejaculated. He said he apologized to T.B. for the fact [737]*737that it had hurt. He said that after they were finished, T.B. began crying because she realized that Hudy would be upset when he heard that they had had sex again. He said it was only then that he learned she had feelings for Hudy. He said that they talked for awhile about their kids and that he left about 20 minutes later.

{¶ 8} After Ortiz left, T.B. went over to Pat’s apartment and told her that he had raped her. The next day, Pat convinced her to receive a sexual-assault examination. The nurse who examined T.B. found injuries that were consistent with the position in which Ortiz and T.B. had had sex. She said, however, that the injuries were consistent with both consensual and nonconsensual sex.

{¶ 9} A few days later, T.B. told the police that Ortiz had raped her. The grand jury indicted him for rape. Before trial, Ortiz’s lawyer moved for a competency hearing, arguing that Ortiz had “diminished comprehension capacity.” The trial court denied his motion without holding a hearing. A jury found him guilty of rape, and he appealed. This court reversed his conviction because the court had not held a hearing on his competency to stand trial.

{¶ 10} On remand, the court held a competency hearing and determined that Ortiz was competent to stand trial. He waived his right to a jury trial and proceeded to a bench trial. The court found him not guilty of rape, but guilty of the lesser included offense of sexual battery. It sentenced him to five years of community control and explained that he would be classified as a Tier III sex offender. Ortiz has appealed, assigning three errors.

POSTRELEASE CONTROL

{¶ 11} Although the parties did not raise the issue in their briefs, they suggested at oral argument that the trial court’s sentencing entry is void because it does not indicate whether postrelease control is mandatory or discretionary. R.C. 2967.28(B) provides that “[e]ach sentence to a prison term * * * for a felony sex offense * * * shall include a requirement that the offender be subject to a period of post-release control imposed by the parole board after the offender’s release from imprisonment.” R.C. 2929.14(F)(1) provides that “[i]f a court imposes a prison term * * * for a felony sex offense, * * * it shall include in the sentence a requirement that the offender be subject to a period of post-release control after the offender’s release from imprisonment * * *.” The Ohio Supreme Court has held that if the trial court does not comply with those provisions, the defendant’s sentence is void. See, e.g., State v. Simpkins, 117 Ohio St.3d 420, 2008-Ohio-1197, 884 N.E.2d 568, at syllabus. In this case, however, the court did not sentence Ortiz to “a prison term.” R.C. 2967.28(B); R.C. 2929.14(F)(1). Instead, it imposed five years of community control. Accordingly, R.C.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
925 N.E.2d 662, 185 Ohio App. 3d 733, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-ortiz-ohioctapp-2010.