State v. Summers

• Citation: 21 N.E.3d 632
• Decision Date: 14 October 2014
• Docket Number: No. 10–13–22.,10–13–22.
• Parties: STATE of Ohio, Plaintiff–Appellee, v. Christopher A. SUMMERS, Defendant–Appellant.
• Court: United States Court of Appeals (Ohio)

21 N.E.3d 632

STATE of Ohio, Plaintiff–Appellee

v.Christopher A. SUMMERS, Defendant–Appellant.

No. 10–13–22.

Court of Appeals of Ohio, Third District, Mercer County.

Oct. 14, 2014.

J. Allen Wilmes, for appellant.

Matthew K. Fox, for appellee.

Opinion

SHAW, J.

{¶ 1} Defendant-appellant Christopher A. Summers (“Summers”) appeals the October 22, 2013 judgment of the Mercer County Common Pleas Court sentencing Summers to an aggregate prison term of 20 years after Summers pled guilty to eight counts of Sexual Battery in violation of R.C. 2907.03(A)(7), all felonies of the third degree.

{¶ 2} The facts relevant to this appeal are as follows. On February 21, 2013 Summers was indicted in a 47 count indictment alleging various counts of Rape, Sexual Battery, Felonious Assault, Gross Sexual Imposition and Attempted Sexual Battery against the same victim. Counts 1 and 11 of the indictment alleged that Summers committed Rape in violation of R.C. 2907.02(A)(2), both felonies of the first degree. Counts 2, 4, 6, 9, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 35, 37, 39, 41, 43 and 45 alleged that Summers committed Sexual Battery in violation of R.C. 2907.03(A)(1), all felonies of the third degree. Counts 3, 5, 7, 10, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, 31, 33, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44 alleged that Summers committed Sexual Battery in violation of R.C. 2907.03(A)(7), all felonies of the third degree. Counts 8 and 34 alleged that Summers committed Felonious Assault in violation of R.C. 2903.11(A)(2), both felonies of the second degree. Count 46 alleged that Summers committed Attempted Sexual Battery in violation of R.C. 2923.02(A) and R.C. 2907.03(A)(1), a felony of the fourth degree. Count 47 alleged that Summers committed Gross Sexual Imposition in violation of R.C. 2907.05(A)(1), a felony of the fourth degree.

{¶ 3} On February 27, 2013 Summers was arraigned and pled not guilty to the charges against him. (Doc. 14).

{¶ 4} On June 17, 2013, the State filed a Bill of Particulars further clarifying the charges against Summers. (Doc. 153). According to the Bill of Particulars the crimes were all perpetrated against the same victim who was a high school student in the accounting class Summers taught, and played for Summers on the girls JV basketball team. The crimes alleged spanned from approximately June of 2010 through October of 2012. (Id. )

{¶ 5} On August 5, 2013, the State filed a nolle prosequi as to Counts 1 and 11, Rape, electing not to proceed with those charges. (Doc. 265).

{¶ 6} The case subsequently proceeded to a jury trial on the remaining counts against Summers. At trial, the victim testified that she first met Summers while she was a high school student at Fort Recovery.¹ (Tr. at 6). Summers was the victim's study hall monitor her freshman year of high school, and he had taught the victim's brothers while they were in school. During the victim's sophomore year of high school, Summers taught her accounting class and he was her JV basketball coach. Summers was also a track coach, and the victim ran track.

{¶ 7} The victim testified that her sophomore year she began occasionally babysitting Summers' kids while Summers and his wife went out. She also testified that she tore her ACL her sophomore year during basketball season, and wanting to continue helping out with the team, she assisted Summers with scouting reports. The victim testified that it was around this time that Summers began to send her text messages and began asking her to come down to see him during study hall. (Tr. at 12).

{¶ 8} The victim testified that Summers started “meddling” in the personal lives of the players on his team, including hers. (Tr. at 13). She testified that Summers would pull her into the “show choir room” at school to talk and threatened detentions if she would not meet him. (Id. ) The victim testified that Summers began sending her text messages on the weekends asking her if she was “behaving.” (Tr. at 13). The victim testified that Summers would message her about girls in practice and communicate with her about her friends. She testified that Summers was “nosy.” (Tr. at 16).

{¶ 9} The victim testified that in the summer of 2010, a few weeks after school concluded her sophomore year, Summers and his wife asked her to go on a trip to the Outer Banks in North Carolina with them to babysit their children. (Tr. at 18). The victim testified that despite her reservations regarding Summers, she liked his children and had never seen the ocean so she agreed to go along. (Id. )

{¶ 10} The victim testified that there were multiple incidents on the trip that made her feel uncomfortable but other than a hug nothing physically happened on the trip. (Tr. at 22). The victim testified that Summers sent her a message after the trip apologizing for his demeanor. (Id. )

{¶ 11} The victim testified that later that same summer she went to a basketball camp that Summers also attended. The victim testified that on one evening many of the members of the team were in her room, and that after they left, Summers lingered asking her about her issues with her friends. (Tr. at 24).

{¶ 12} The victim testified that on June 28, 2010, shortly after the basketball camp was over, she was contacted by Summers' wife to babysit the children for the day. (Tr. at 26). The victim testified that Summers came home while she was still babysitting and told her that he wanted to pay her and that he had to show her something. (Tr. at 26). The victim testified that she followed Summers to his bedroom where Summers shoved her onto the bed. (Tr. at 26). The victim testified that Summers had his hands locked on her arms and that she told Summers to get off of her. (Tr. at 27). The victim testified that Summers told her that he loved her and that she was his “little puzzle piece.” (Id. )

{¶ 13} The victim testified that Summers told her he wanted to show her he loved her so he took the victim's clothes off and digitally penetrated her. (Tr. at 27). The victim testified that she “was telling him [she] didn't want it and for him to get off [her] and let [her] go.” (Tr. at 27). The victim testified that Summers then put a condom on and had sexual intercourse with her. (Tr. at 29). The victim testified that afterward Summers instructed her not to tell anyone because Summers was in “control and that he could do anything he wanted to [her], and [she] had no idea what kind of man he was and what he was capable of doing to [her] and that he would go to great lengths to make sure that [she] never told.” (Tr. at 29–30).

{¶ 14} The victim testified that Summers then waffled back and forth between telling her that he was “so glad that he got to take [her] virginity and that it meant everything to him, that [she] was so special” to “telling [her] that he could do anything he wanted to [her] and that he made sure that he had the control.” (Tr. at 30). After the incident, Summers instructed the victim to get her clothes and go.

{¶ 15} The victim testified that Summers sent her text messages on her way home after the incident further instructing her not to tell anyone. She testified that she was too scared and embarrassed to tell anyone. She testified that she also felt responsible because she had a feeling she should not have gone over to babysit but went over anyway. (Tr. at 31–32).

{¶ 16} The victim testified that in the days following the incident Summers continued messaging her saying that he wanted to see her and she avoided him as much as she could. (Tr. at 33). The victim testified that she made every excuse she could to put off meeting Summers, but that Summers kept reminding her that she “was under his control and that he had the power and that he was capable of doing anything to keep [her] quiet.” (Tr. at 34). The victim testified that at one point after dinner on July 3, 2010, she received 10 messages in a row from Summers, and that Summers then called her and said that she had to “meet him or * * * pay the consequences.” (Tr. at 34).

{¶ 17} The victim testified that she met Summers at the “Saint Henry * * * ball diamond” in the first-base dugout following a wedding she was attending. (Tr. at 35). The victim testified that Summers began “kissing [her] and telling [her] how bad he wanted it.” (Tr. at 35). The victim testified that Summers pulled her dress up and “went in” then made her perform oral sex on him. (Tr. at 36). The victim testified that after the incident Summers called her to remind her not to tell anyone. (Tr. at 36).

{¶ 18} The victim testified to similar incidents that happened where Summers would tell her how “he needed it” and that “[h]e couldn't keep it under control anymore[.]”

The victim testified that Summers made threats to get her to meet him and that she met him at her sister's house where they had sexual intercourse. (Tr. at 37–38).

{¶ 19} The victim testified that near the end of July in the summer of 2010 she began dating another high school student and Summers was angry when he found out about it. (Tr. at 40–41). The victim testified that when Summers learned about the victim's boyfriend he told her that she had to meet him so they met out at Dull Road in Mercer County. (Tr. at 41). The victim testified that Summers was screaming at her and telling her how she should “have clearly known that [she] was his[.]” (Id. ) The victim testified that Summers had a knife with him, and that he was “rubbing it up and down [her] leg and telling [her] that [she] needed a reminder of who [she] belonged to.” (Tr. at 41). The victim testified that Summers then took the knife and carved his first initial, “C,” in the inside of her right ankle. (Tr. at 42). The victim testified that she begged Summers not to before he did it, but he did anyway and then made her clean up the blood. (Tr. at 42).

{¶ 20} The victim testified that Summers took her phone while on Dull Road and sent a message from her phone to his saying, “I won't cut myself again,” making it look like she had cut herself. (Tr. at 43). The...