State v. Blanton

Citations

• 2025 Ohio 1192

Syllabus

RAPE — GROSS SEXUAL IMPOSITION — ADMISSIBILITY — INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL — SUFFICIENCY OF THE EVIDENCE — PLAIN ERROR — SENTENCING — NEW TRIAL: The trial court did not commit plain error by admitting certain statements from defendant's recorded police interview where defendant failed to object to the admission of the statements and failed to show how the statements prejudiced him in a way that would have changed the outcome of the trial. Defendant's convictions for two counts of rape of a child and one count of gross sexual imposition were supported by sufficient evidence where the child testified to acts that demonstrated that defendant anally penetrated her and forcefully touched her buttocks and thighs with a toy, and where the child was diagnosed with the same sexually-transmitted disease as defendant. Defendant could not prevail on his ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim where he failed to demonstrate how defense counsel's failure to object to the admission of his recorded statements to police prejudiced him. Defendant's sentence of life without parole for each rape count was not unconstitutionally disproportionate for the rape of a child under ten. The trial court did not abuse its discretion by denying defendant's motion for a new trial because the alleged newly-discovered evidence did not create a strong probability that the result of a new trial would be different.