U.S. Supreme Court won't review Newark statutory rape case

Given the high court refuses to review the case, then the lower court decision is precedent. That decision can be found HERE

12-13-2011 Washington DC:

NEWARK — The U.S. Supreme Court won’t review an Ohio Supreme Court decision that eliminated statutory rape charges for children younger than 13.

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Licking County Prosecutor Ken Oswalt’s petition to review the case, which stemmed from rape charges brought against a 12-year-old boy. The court accepts only about 1 percent of petitions it receives.

In June, the state Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional to charge a child younger than 13 with statutory rape because it would be unclear who is the victim and who is the offender.

Oswalt, who petitioned in August for the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case, said he feared the Ohio high court went too far in curbing prosecutors’ discretion to determine who should be charged with a crime by eliminating factors, such as age, strength and coercion.

“It has to do with the broader legal reasoning and its effects on other cases,” he said.

The Licking County case started with a 12-year-old boy who was found delinquent of five counts of rape for trading sex for video games with an 11-year-old boy between July 1, 2007, and July 30, 2007, according to court records. He was placed on probation.

After the Ohio Supreme Court decision, his case was dismissed, sealed and expunged.

The Ohio Supreme Court did not eliminate the possibility of charging juveniles who used force or impairment to take advantage of others sexually, Assistant Ohio Public Defender Brooke Burns said.

The prosecutor’s office could have charged the boy or all involved as unruly juveniles to provide treatment and monitoring without the stigma of being labeled rapists, Burns said.

The only pending litigation is an appeal in the Fifth District Court of Appeals questioning whether Licking County Juvenile Court Judge Robert Hoover should have sealed the case before it was reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Burns said the U.S. Supreme Court’s denial was a “sigh of relief” in a case that has continued for four years.

“We’re very glad for the youth and his family that this finally has a resolution,” Burns said. ..Source.. by Jessie Balmert