State v. Pheanis

2015 Ohio 5015
Ohio Court of Appeals·Decided December 4, 2015·No. 26560·Published·Cited by 13 cases

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT MONTGOMERY COUNTY

STATE OF OHIO :

:

Plaintiff-Appellee : Appellate Case No. 26560 :

v. : Trial Court Case No. 2014-CR-1367 :

MARK A. PHEANIS : (Criminal Appeal from : Common Pleas Court)

Defendant-Appellant :

:

...........

OPINION

Rendered on the 4th day of December, 2015.

...........

MATHIAS H. HECK, JR., by DYLAN SMEARCHECK, Atty. Reg. No. 0085249, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office, Appellate Division, Montgomery County Courts Building, 301 West Third Street, Dayton, Ohio 45422 Attorney for Plaintiff-Appellee

MARK A. DEYOUNG, Atty. Reg. No. 0090903, 224 Reading Road, Mason, Ohio 45040 Attorney for Defendant-Appellant

.............

WELBAUM, J.

{¶ 1} Defendant-appellant, Mark A. Pheanis, appeals from his conviction in the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas after a jury found him guilty of multiple counts of rape and sexual battery of his minor daughter. Specifically, Pheanis challenges the trial court’s decision to allow the State to amend six counts in the indictment to change the county in which those six counts occurred. Pheanis also claims his conviction is against the manifest weight of the evidence. For the reasons outlined below, the judgment of the trial court will be affirmed.

Facts and Course of Proceedings

{¶ 2} On August 29, 2014, the Montgomery County Grand Jury returned an indictment charging Pheanis with three counts of rape of a minor under the age of 13 in violation of R.C. 2907.02(A)(1)(b), with the first two counts including a specification that the victim was under the age of 10. Pheanis was also charged with three counts of rape by force or threat of force in violation of R.C. 2907.02(A)(2), as well as six counts of sexual battery in violation of R.C. 2907.03(A)(5). The charges stemmed from allegations that Pheanis sexually abused his minor daughter, L., on various occasions between November 9, 2003 and January 1, 2013. Pheanis pled not guilty to the charges and the matter proceeded to a jury trial beginning on December 15, 2014.

{¶ 3} On the first day of trial, Pheanis challenged venue in Montgomery County for six of the twelve counts alleged in the indictment, claiming that the discovery he received from the State indicated that four of the counts occurred in Greene County with another two in Pike County. The State agreed that the six counts at issue occurred in Greene

and Pike Counties, but contended that under R.C. 2901.12(H), Montgomery County was a proper venue for all twelve counts given that each count occurred as part of a course of criminal conduct. After considering both parties’ arguments, the trial court permitted the State to amend the six counts in the indictment to allege that they occurred in Greene and Pike Counties, respectively, as opposed to Montgomery County. Pheanis’s counsel thereafter advised the court that he was prepared to go forward with trial despite the recent amendment to the indictment.

{¶ 4} It is undisputed that between February 2004 and September 2006, L. lived with her mother, siblings, and Pheanis at a residence in Greene County, Ohio. During this time, L. was between five and seven years old. It is also undisputed that in September 2006, L. and her family moved to a residence in Montgomery County, Ohio. In addition, it is undisputed that L. and her family went on a camping trip to her great aunt’s property in Pike County, Ohio, in September 2008, when L. was nine years old and in the fourth grade.

{¶ 5} At trial, L. testified regarding six specific incidents of sexual abuse involving Pheanis. L. testified that the first two incidents occurred in a toy room at her former residence in Greene County, the third incident occurred in the woods when she went on the camping trip in Pike County, Ohio and the final three incidents occurred in the basement, living room, and front porch of the Montgomery County residence. L. also testified that there were other instances of abuse beyond the six that she described; however, she explained that she was too embarrassed to discuss the other incidents because of what Pheanis made her say and do.

Greene County – First Incident in Toy Room

{¶ 6} When describing the first incident in Greene County, L. testified that she was at home and upset because her mother took her older brother to the store and left her behind with her other siblings and Pheanis. L. testified that Pheanis became angry with her because she would not stop crying. L. claimed that in response to her crying, Pheanis took her upstairs into a bedroom that they had used as a toy room. L. testified that Pheanis then shut the door to the toy room, took his belt off, and told her to pull down her pants and underwear and lean over the bed. L. testified that Pheanis had previously spanked her bare bottom before, but this time she felt his hands on her hips and the worst pain in her bottom. During this time, L. testified that Pheanis’s penis touched her bottom and that she felt pain “up inside [her] body.” Trial Trans. Vol. II (Dec. 16, 2014), p. 319. She also testified that Pheanis was moving his hips back and forth. L. claimed that she did not understand what was happening at the time, but now realizes Pheanis was “messing with [her] sexually.” Id. at 320. L. testified that after Pheanis was finished, he said that if she kept crying he would do it to her again. Following that incident, L. recalled being constipated.

Greene County – Second Incident in Toy Room

{¶ 7} When describing the second incident in Greene County, L. testified that one evening while she was eating dinner she hid a piece of sausage in her pants due to a dislike for meat. L. testified that she and Pheanis had previously made a deal that if she did not eat her sausage he would spank her with a wooden paddle. On this specific occasion, L. chose to endure a spanking over eating her sausage. L. testified that

Pheanis carried her upstairs to the toy room, shut the door, and like the first incident, he had her pull down her pants and underwear and bend over the bed. However, on this occasion, L. testified that Pheanis did not take off his belt. L. testified that Pheanis then did the same thing to her as before, claiming his penis touched the inside of her bottom and that it was very painful. L. also recalled Pheanis moving his hips again and putting his hands on her hips. L. testified that at the time, she realized Pheanis was not spanking her, but she still did not understand what was happening. Similar to the first incident, L. testified that she now understands that Pheanis was once again “messing with [her] sexually.” Id. at 326.

Camping Trip Incident

{¶ 8} L. testified that in the fourth grade she went on a camping trip with her family to her great aunt’s house in Pike County, Ohio. L. recalled that the property had a lot of woods and a creek where she and her family went on nature walks. L. testified that on one occasion she and Pheanis went on a nature walk alone together. During the walk, she and Pheanis stopped at the creek in the woods, because Pheanis thought it was beautiful and wanted to pray there. L. testified that Pheanis told her to come closer so she could look at the creek. Upon coming closer, L. testified that Pheanis tripped her with his foot, which caused her to fall to the ground. After she fell, L. testified that she looked up and saw “that look in his eyes,” which L. described as a “really scary” look when he got mad or was going to be violent. Id. at 332. L. claimed that she tried to crawl away, but Pheanis stopped her beside the creek, pulled off her pants and underwear, got on top of her while she was on her stomach, put his hands on her shoulders, and put his

penis inside her vagina. L. recalled this being very painful, but did not recall Pheanis ejaculating.

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