State v. Guillot, Unpublished Decision (1-24-2000)
State v. Guillot, Unpublished Decision (1-24-2000)
Opinion of the Court
OPINION
Appellant Christopher Guillot appeals the decision of the Stark County Court of Common Pleas that found him to be a "sexual predator." The following facts give rise to this appeal. On January 22, 1999, the Stark County Grand Jury secretly indicted appellant charging him with one count of gross sexual imposition and one count of rape. Appellant entered a plea of not guilty. Prior to trial, appellant filed a motion to suppress the confession he made to the police. In the confession, appellant admitted that on numerous occasions he engaged in sexual intercourse, fellatio and fondling of a five-year-old girl over a six-month period. Following a hearing on appellant's motion, appellant opted to change his plea to guilty to the charges contained in the indictment. On May 12, 1999, the trial court sentenced appellant to a term of five years on the rape charge and a concurrent one-year term on the charge of gross sexual imposition. Thereafter, on May 26, 1999, the trial court conducted a classification hearing pursuant to R.C.I. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN OVERRULING APPELLANT'S MOTION TO DISMISS BECAUSE H.B. 180 IS UNCONSTITUTIONALLY VAGUE.
II. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN CLASSIFYING APPELLANT AS A PREDATOR WITHOUT A RECORD OF CLEAR AND CONVINCING EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT THE FINDING.
(a) The offender's age;
(b) The offender's prior criminal record regarding all offenses, including, but not limited to, all sexual offenses;
(c) The age of the victim of the sexually oriented offense for which sentence is to be imposed;
(d) Whether the sexually oriented offense for which sentence is to be imposed involved multiple victims;
(e) Whether the offender used drugs or alcohol to impair the victim of the sexually oriented offense or to prevent the victim from resisting;
(f) If the offender previously has been convicted of or pleaded guilty to any criminal offense, whether the offender completed any sentence imposed for the prior offense and, if the prior offense was a sex offense or a sexually oriented offense, whether the offender participated in available programs for sexual offenders;
(g) Any mental illness or mental disability of the offender;
(h) The nature of the offender's sexual conduct, sexual contact, or interaction in a sexual context with the victim of the sexually oriented offense and whether the sexual conduct, sexual contact, or interaction in a sexual context was part of a demonstrated pattern of abuse;
(i) Whether the offender, during the commission of the sexually oriented offense for which sentence is to be imposed, displayed cruelty or made one or more threats of cruelty;
(j) Any additional behavioral characteristics that contribute to the offender's conduct.
Pursuant to the above factors, at the hearing conducted on May 26, 1999, the trial court made the following findings. First, the trial court noted the age of the victim as well as the disparity of ages between the victim and appellant. Tr. at 32, 33. The victim was only four and one-half years old when appellant began the abuse. Id. Appellant was twenty-six years old. Id. Although appellant had no prior record and the charges did not involve multiple victims, appellant did abuse the victim on multiple occasions. Id. Finally, the trial court also found appellant had mental health issues regarding abuse in his past. Id. Based on these factors, the trial court concluded, by clear and convincing evidence, that appellant should be classified a "sexual predator" as defined in R.C.
For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the Court of Common Pleas, Stark County, Ohio, is hereby affirmed.
By: WISE, P.J. FARMER, J., and EDWARDS, J., concur.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.