State v. Ross

121 N.E.2d 289, 96 Ohio App. 157, 54 Ohio Op. 230, 1954 Ohio App. LEXIS 735
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 4, 1954
Docket105
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 121 N.E.2d 289 (State v. Ross) 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. Ross, 121 N.E.2d 289, 96 Ohio App. 157, 54 Ohio Op. 230, 1954 Ohio App. LEXIS 735 (Ohio Ct. App. 1954).

Opinion

Guernsey, J.

This is an appeal on questions of law from a final order of the Court of Common Pleas of Paulding County, Ohio, in an action wherein the appellee, state of Ohio, was plaintiff and the appellant, Wendell Robert Ross, was the defendant.

*158 The grand jury of Panlding county returned an indictment against the defendant, charging:

“That Wendell Robert Ross on or about the 23rd day of January in the year of our Lord one thousand, nine hundred and fifty-three, at the county of Paulding aforesaid being then eighteen years of age raped or ravished one Shirley Jean Mason she the said Shirley Jean Mason being then under the age of sixteen years, to-wit: about 13 years, contrary to the statute in such case made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the state of Ohio.”

This indictment is predicated upon the provisions of Section 12414, General Code, reading as follows:

“Whoever, being eighteen years of age, carnally knows and abuses a female person under the age of sixteen years with her consent shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary not less than one year nor more than twenty years, or six months in the county jail or workhouse. The court is authorized to hear testimony in mitigation or aggravation of such sentence. ’ ’

The defendant was tried by a court and jury on such indictment and the jury upon such trial returned a verdict, which, omitting caption and signatures, is in the words and figures following, to wit:

“We, .the jury in this ease, duly impaneled and sworn and affirmed, find the defendant, Wendell Robert Ross, not guilty of rape on female under sixteen (16) years, in manner and form as he stands charged in the indictment. But we do find him guilty of attempt to commit rape as therein charged.”

The offense of which the verdict of the jury found the defendant guilty is one of the classes of offenses enumerated in Section 13451-20, General Code, wherein it is, among other things, prescribed that a person convicted of such an offense “after conviction and before sentence” must be referred “for examination” as *159 to his mental condition “to a state facility designated by the department” of welfare.

Pursuant to the provisions of the section above mentioned, the court did not then render sentence on such verdict as it would in criminal cases not coming within the classes mentioned in such section, but made the following order, to wit:

“ It is ordered by the court that the defendant herein, Wendell Robert Ross, be committed to the Lima State Hospital, Lima, Ohio, for not to exceed sixty (60) days for observation and examination according to law, under General Code Section 13451-20.”

This is the order from which this appeal is taken.

The defendant, appellant herein, assigns error in the following particulars:

1. In overruling the defendant’s motion for arrest of judgment.

2. In overruling defendant’s motion for a new trial.

3. The order of commitment of the court is contrary to law.

4. The court erred in the admission of evidence offered by plaintiff over the objection of defendant.

5. The court erred in rejecting evidence offered by the defendant.

6. The verdict and judgment of the court are not sustained by sufficient evidence.

7. The verdict and judgment of the court are against the weight of the evidence.

8. The judgment, order and decree of the court committing the defendant to the Lima State Hospital contravenes Article 1, Section 10 of the Constitution of the state of Ohio, and the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America in this— that the defendant is being deprived of his liberty without due process of law, in this, that he has not been convicted of any offense which is defined as a *160 crime by the laws of the state of Ohio, and that the indictment against him does not sufficiently inform him of the nature of the accusation against him, and that he has been committed to an institution for the insane without any hearing upon hi's sanity, and that the portion of Section 13451-20 of the General Code of the state of Ohio which provides for a commitment to an institution for observation after a defendant has been found guilty by a jury, and before sentence, is in violation of both sections of said Constitution.

These claimed errors will be considered in the order in which they are assigned, but in considering these assignments it is essential that the following matters be kept in mind:

Section 13448-2, General Code, among other things, prescribes:

“The jury may find the defendant not guilty of the offense charged, but guilty of an attempt to commit it if such attempt is an offense at law. When the indictment or information charges an offense, including different degrees, or if other offenses are included within the offense charged, the jury may find the defendant not guilty of the degree charged but guilty of an inferior degree thereof or lesser included offense.”

The offense charged in the indictment in the instant case is that the defendant, being over the age of 18 years, did rape or ravish one female person under the age of 16 years. As hereinbefore mentioned, the indictment is predicated upon the provisions of Section 12414, General Code, which, among other things, prescribes :

“Whoever, being eighteen years of age, carnally knows and abuses a female person under the age of sixteen years with her consent shall be imprisoned in the penitentiary not less than one year nor more than twenty years, or six months in the county jail or workhouse.”

*161 It will be noted that the indictment does not charge that the rape or ravishment was “with the consent” of the prosecuting witness.

The provisions of the above-mentioned,,section were formerly incorporated in Sections 6816 and 6817, Revised Statutes, and were under consideration in the case of State v. Carl, 71 Ohio St., 259, 73 N. E., 463, wherein it was held:

“On the trial of an indictment under Section 6816, Revised Statutes, for carnally knowing and abusing a female person under the age of sixteen years with her consent, the evidence having established the carnal knowledge and the alleged ages of the parties, evidence tending to show that the act was committed without consent does not constitute a fatal variance.”

Subsequent to the above decision and in 1910, Section 6816, Revised Statutes, was codified in a number of separate sections as a part of the G-eneral Code.

Between the date of the decision above quoted and the date of said codification, the Legislature made no material changes in the provisions of Section 6816.

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381 N.E.2d 342 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1977)
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37 Misc. 2d 660 (New York Supreme Court, 1962)

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Bluebook (online)
121 N.E.2d 289, 96 Ohio App. 157, 54 Ohio Op. 230, 1954 Ohio App. LEXIS 735, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-ross-ohioctapp-1954.