Two Trumbull County appeals denied by state, including juvenile sexual assault case
Two Trumbull County cases prosecuted were affirmed this week by the Ohio 11th District Court of Appeals.
The first involved a teenage male who was ruled delinquent and sentenced to the Department of Youth Services for three counts of rape and one count of GSI involving a female victim who was 15 years old at the time of the offenses.
In his appeal, the juvenile cited four assignments of error with the Trumbull County Juvenile Court:
- The magistrate erred by finding there was sufficient evidence of “force or threat of force”;
- The magistrate erred by finding the three counts of rape and one count of GSI were proven beyond a reasonable doubt and;
- The juvenile court procedures which allowed juvenile charges to be brought by complaint without a preliminary hearing or a grand jury indictment as required in adult criminal courts are unconsitutional and amount to unequal protection under the law.
“After careful review of the record and pertinent law, we find (defendant’s) assignments of error to be without merit,” writes 11 th District Juidge Mary Jane Trapp, who along with judges Robert J. Patton and Matt Lynch, ruled for the state in the case.
Judge Lynch, however, dissented in part and rendered an opinion that the GSI charge against the juvenile male did not prove “force or threat of force.”
The male juvenile will continue to serve his sentence at DYS which would be 12 months or up to age 21 with the requirement that he complete the facility’s sex offender program prior to his release.
In a second case, the 11th District, led by Judge Lynch, affirmed the conviction and sentence of Matthew Zaller, 29, of Orwell.
Zaller was convicted of three counts of attempted carrying concealed weapons, felonies of the fifth degree.
Zaller was sentenced by Common Pleas Judge Andrew D. Logan on April 12, 2023 to five years of community control. In his appeal, Zaller raised one assignment of error in that his consitutional rights were violated when the court denied his motion to suppress evidence dealing with the Warren police search that found the firearm.
In their decision, Judge Lynch, joined by Judges Eugene A. Lucci and Judge Pattorn, wrote that the sole assignment of error in the case is without merit.
Both appeals were handled for the state by Assistant Prosecutor Ryan J. Sanders.