State v. Washington, Unpublished Decision (4-30-2002)
State v. Washington, Unpublished Decision (4-30-2002)
Opinion of the Court
OPINION
Defendant-appellant, Lewis J. Washington, III, appeals from a judgment of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas finding him guilty of two counts of gross sexual imposition pursuant to his guilty plea and sentencing him accordingly.On May 5, 2000, appellant was indicted on one count of rape, in violation of R.C.
After originally entering a not guilty plea to all of the charges, appellant subsequently pled guilty to two counts of gross sexual imposition. The remaining counts were dismissed. After accepting his guilty plea, the trial court sentenced appellant to six months in prison for each count and ordered that the two sentences be served consecutively. Appellant was also found to be a sexually-oriented offender. Appellant appealed, assigning the following errors:
ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 1
THE TRIAL COURT ERRED WHEN IT SENTENCED THE DEFENDANT TO TWO CONSECUTIVE TERMS, INSTEAD OF CONCURRENT TERMS.
ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 2
THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN NOT MERGING THE TWO GROSS SEXUAL IMPOSITION COUNTS FOR SENTENCING.
ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NO. 3
THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN IMPOSING A PRISON TERM AFTER FINDING THAT APPELLANT WOULD BENEFIT FROM COMMUNITY CONTROL.
Appellant's first and third assignments of error will be addressed first. The state agrees with appellant that the trial court did not make the findings required by R.C.
In his second assignment of error, appellant alleges that the trial court erred by failing to merge the two gross sexual imposition counts for purposes of sentencing. This assignment of error is arguably waived due to trial counsel's failure to object to the issue at the trial level. See State v. Drake (1998), Franklin App. No. 98AP-448. Nonetheless, because this case is being remanded for resentencing, we will address this assignment of error.
Appellant contends that his two gross sexual imposition convictions were offenses of similar import and should have been merged for sentencing, in accordance with R.C.
Where the same conduct by defendant can be construed to constitute two or more allied offenses of similar import, the indictment or information may contain counts for all such offenses, but the defendant may be convicted of only one.
However, R.C.
Instead, R.C.
In this case, the record demonstrates that appellant committed two distinct sexual assaultive acts upon his niece, one involving her vagina and the other involving her anus. Although these acts occurred in close temporal proximity, they were not part of a single simultaneous incident. Id., citing Austin, supra; see, also, State v. Willis (1999), Clermont App. No. CA99-01-007. Because these separate, distinct offenses do not constitute allied offenses of similar import, the trial court did not err in sentencing appellant for both of his convictions. Appellant's second assignment of error is overruled.
Having sustained appellant's first and third assignments of error and overruling his second assignment of error, the judgment of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas is affirmed in part and reversed in part, and this matter is remanded to the trial court for resentencing in compliance with the applicable sentencing statutes.
Judgment affirmed in part, reversed in part, and matter remanded.
BRYANT and DESHLER, JJ., concur.
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