State v. Cook, 2013 Ohio 5081

Cook was indicted on eleven counts for rape of two children under ten and two counts of gross sexual imposition.
Trial proceeded in October 2011 with a jury; the State presented multiple witnesses including the child victims and an investigator.
Cook admitted during police interviews to touching the child victim and to acts of sexual contact with the victims; three interview DVDs were played for the jury.
The defense argued hearsay concerns and challenged admissibility of statements and the corpus delicti corroboration for confessions.
Cook was convicted on all counts and sentenced to 60 years to life; the court later remanded on a procedural issue related to court costs.
The appellate court affirmed some convictions, reversed on the court-costs issue, and remanded for limited resentencing on costs.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Admission of hearsay statements	State maintains statements were non-hearsay under Evid.R. 801	Cook argues hearsay violated confrontation rights and Evid.R. 807 is inapplicable	Not error; statements were not hearsay and admissible under Rule 807 with sufficient foundations
Ineffective assistance of counsel	Counsel failed to object to hearsay content in interviews	Counsel acted reasonably; no prejudice shown	No deficient performance; defense not prejudiced; assign. II overruled
Sufficiency/weight of the evidence	Evidence supported convictions beyond reasonable doubt and not against weight	Evidence was insufficient or against weight to sustain multiple rapes	Evidence sufficient to sustain eight B.C. rapes and one C.F. rape; not against weight; overruled
Court costs notice and community service	Remand unnecessary; proper relief already occurred	Remand for limited resentencing on costs is proper	Remand for limited resentencing on court costs; notice defect requires correction

State v. Edwards, 49 Ohio St.2d 31 (1976) (corpus delicti requires independent corroboration of the act)
State v. Van Hook, 39 Ohio St.3d 256 (1988) (minimal corpus delicti evidence suffices; may be circumstantial)
State v. Gabriel, 170 Ohio App.3d 393 (2007) (corpus delicti and admissibility considerations for child statements)
State v. Edinger, 10th Dist. Franklin No. 05AP-31 (2006) (sufficiency of evidence for sexual offenses involving a young victim)
State v. Nobles, 106 Ohio App.3d 246 (1995) (corpus delicti standard; evidence outside confession suffices)
State v. Smith, 131 Ohio St.3d 297 (2012) (mandatory notice requirements for court costs and community service)