State v. Peddicord

2013 Ohio 3398
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 5, 2013
Docket7-12-24
StatusPublished
Cited by49 cases

This text of 2013 Ohio 3398 (State v. Peddicord) 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. Peddicord, 2013 Ohio 3398 (Ohio Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

[Cite as State v. Peddicord, 2013-Ohio-3398.]

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT HENRY COUNTY

STATE OF OHIO,

PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE, CASE NO. 7-12-24

v.

MAURICE C. PEDDICORD, III, OPINION

DEFENDANT-APPELLANT.

Appeal from Henry County Common Pleas Court Trial Court No. 12 CR 0065

Judgment Affirmed in Part, Reversed in Part and Cause Remanded

Date of Decision: August 5, 2013

APPEARANCES:

Alan J. Lehenbauer for Appellant

John H. Hanna for Appellee Case No. 7-12-24

ROGERS, J.

{¶1} Defendant-Appellant, Maurice C. Peddicord, III, appeals the judgment

of the Court of Common Pleas of Henry County, finding him guilty of two counts

of gross sexual imposition and sentencing him to 10 years in prison. On appeal,

Peddicord contends the trial court erred by: (1) finding him guilty based on

insufficient evidence; (2) failing to merge his convictions for gross sexual

imposition for the purposes of sentencing; and (3) imposing a mandatory sentence,

a maximum sentence, and consecutive sentences. For the reasons that follow we

affirm in part and reverse in part the trial court’s judgment.

{¶2} On October 23, 2012, pursuant to a plea agreement, the State re-filed a

Bill of Information alleging two counts of gross sexual imposition in violation of

R.C. 2907.05(A)(4)(C)(2), a felony of the third degree.1 The Bill of Information

arose from Peddicord’s alleged sexual abuse of R.P., a three-year old female,

while he was responsible for supervising her.

{¶3} Also on October 23, 2012, the trial court conducted a plea hearing. At

the hearing, the State read the following statement of facts into the record:

[I]n the County of Henry, in the State of Ohio, specifically in Napoleon, Ohio, as to Count One on or between June 14, 2012 and June 17, 2012 Mr. Peddicord, Maurice Peddicord, III, did engage in sexual contact with another person, in this case, [R.P.] who was at that time 3 years of age and therefore obviously less than 13 years of

1 The original Bill of Information, filed October 22, 2012, alleged two counts of rape.

-2- Case No. 7-12-24

age and obviously not his spouse, the sexual contact involved as related by the victim, playing on the bed, on her bed, and “Yo” as she called [him] would be naked and would touch her with his penis in the area of her mouth and that it was yucky. As to Count Two on the dates, June 17, 2012 to June 20, 2012 again in the City of Napoleon, Henry County, Ohio, Mr. Peddicord did engage in sexual contact again with [R.P.] who was 3 years of age, that sexual contact being the touching of his penis in the area of her mouth or perhaps with her hands as well. I would indicate that I have marked as State’s Exhibit 1 and would ask for its admission the DNA report from the bed on which these games were played showing semen that I believe the numbers are 1 in 2 quintillion 9482 quadrillion [sic] to 1 that the semen came from either the defendant or his twin brother who was at that time incarcerated at CCNO facing other charges.3 Again, on that count the victim was [R.P.] who was 3 years of age at the time and not the spouse of the defendant and we would move the admission of State Exhibit 1.

Plea Hearing Tr., p. 9-10. After the State read the statement of facts, the Court

admonished Peddicord of his constitutional rights and advised him of a possible

maximum sentence. Peddicord entered a plea of no contest for both counts of

gross sexual imposition alleged in the Bill of Information. Subsequently, the trial

court found him guilty on both counts.

{¶4} The trial court conducted a sentencing hearing for Peddicord on

December 4, 2012. The State requested the court to impose the maximum

sentence for Peddicord’s conduct:

2 Exhibit 1 shows that the actual number is 2 quintillion 982 quadrillion. 3 We assume that the State misspoke and meant to say that the DNA report indicated the odds that the semen found on the victim’s bed came from someone other than Peddicord or his twin brother were 1 in 2 quintillion 982 quadrillion.

-3- Case No. 7-12-24

[I]n looking at the more serious verses [sic] the less serious, the age of the victim being a 3 year old at the time that the defendant committed these sexual assaults upon her, the victim having suffered serious physical and psychological harm as a result of the offense, and the offenders [sic] relationship, he was actually the caregiver for this child and abused that relationship by choosing to engage in sexual contact with her. This is a mandatory prison sentence because there was additional evidence other than simply the statement of the girl, there was semen found on the sheets of the little girls [sic] bed that was directly identified as the defendants [sic]. In the categories of less serious there aren’t any that fit. The victim certainly did not facilitate the offense, there is no strong provocation here for what he did, there aren’t any substantial grounds to mitigate the conduct of having sexual contact with a 3 year old and certainly the defendant can’t in any way argue that he would not have expected that [sic] to cause any psychological harm to a 3 year old by engaging in sexual contact with that 3 year old child. Based upon that the State would recommend a sentence of 5 years on each count to be served consecutively to one another.

Sentencing Tr., p. 7.

{¶5} Peddicord argued for a more lenient sentence, noting that recidivism

was less likely since he had no prior juvenile or adult record, and had led a law

abiding life for a significant number of years until this incident. Peddicord also

noted how he took responsibility for his actions through his plea and spared R.P.

and her family from going through “further turmoil.” Id. at 8.

{¶6} In making its sentencing determination, the trial court considered “all

those factors as set forth in 2929.11 and 2929.12 of the Revised Code in addition

to 2929.14 of the Revised Code.” Id. It also noted Peddicord’s lack of a criminal

history, the “heinous” nature of the crimes, and Peddicord’s lack of remorse.

-4- Case No. 7-12-24

Based on these considerations, the trial court sentenced Peddicord to a prison term

of five years for each count, to be run consecutively, for a total of 10 years.

{¶7} Peddicord filed this timely appeal, presenting the following

assignments of error for our review.

Assignment of Error No. I

TRIAL COURT ERRED IN FINDING APPELLANT GUILTY PURSUANT TO THE NO CONTEST PLEA AS THERE WAS INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE PRESENTED TO FIND APPELLANT GUILTY OF THE TWO CHARGES FOR GROSS SEXUAL IMPOSITION.

Assignment of Error No. II

THE TRIAL COURT COMMITED PLAIN ERROR IN FAILING TO MERGE COUNT ONE WITH COUNT TWO OF THE BILL OF INFORMATION FOR SENTENCING PURPOSES OR AT LEAST IN FAILING TO CONDUCT AN ALLIED OFFENSES OF SIMILAR IMPORT ANALYSIS PRIOR TO SENTENCING THE APPELLANT.

Assignment of Error No. III

THE TRIAL COURT ERRED BY IMPOSING THE MAXIMUM SENTENCE AND/OR CONSECUTIVE SENTENCES FOR APPELLANT’S CONVICTIONS FOR TWO COUNTS OF GROSS SEXUAL IMPOSITION.

{¶8} In his first assignment of error, Peddicord contends that his

convictions are supported by insufficient evidence. He further argues that the

-5- Case No. 7-12-24

prosecutor’s statement of facts negated an essential element of gross sexual

imposition. We disagree.

Standard of Review

{¶9} When an appellate court reviews the record for sufficiency, the

relevant inquiry is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable

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2013 Ohio 3398, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-peddicord-ohioctapp-2013.