State v. Pate

Citations

• 173 N.E.3d 567
• 2021 Ohio 1838

Syllabus

The trial court did not err in overruling appellant's motion to sever offenses that were joined pursuant to Evid.R. 8(A) where evidence of the joined offenses was admissible at separate trials as other-acts evidence under Evid.R. 404(B) and was simple and direct. The trial court also did not err by admitting video-recorded forensic interviews of the child abuse victims into evidence at trial under the hearsay exceptions in Evid.R. 803(4) and Evid.R. 807(A). In addition, the appellant's convictions for ten counts of rape of a minor less than ten years of age were supported by sufficient evidence and were not against the manifest weight of the evidence. Appellant's claims of prosecutorial misconduct also lack merit because the challenged conduct was not improper. Finally, the cumulative effect of the harmless errors committed at trial did not prevent appellant from receiving a fair trial and thus do not warrant a reversal of appellant's conviction. Judgment affirmed.