State v. Ward, 2014 Ohio 990

Ward was convicted in Clermont County Municipal Court after a jury found him guilty of three counts of furnishing beer or intoxicating liquor to underage persons and one count of sexual imposition.
Four complaints were filed on December 10, 2012, arising from events at Ward's ex-wife's house on November 17–18, 2012.
Ward admitted to the three underage-furnishing counts at trial; the appeal concerns only the sexual-imposition charge.
Victim H.C. testified she and several classmates aged 15–17 were invited to stay at Ward's ex-wife's house; Ward, then 46, provided vodka to them.
At around 4:00 a.m., H.C. testified Ward touched her inappropriately for about an hour, leading to the charges and H.C. reporting the incident to police.
Before deliberations, the court admitted W.T.'s testimony about Ward's alleged prior sexual misconduct four years earlier, with limiting instructions; Ward was convicted on all counts and sentenced.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Admission of other-acts evidence under Williams test	Ward argues W.T.'s testimony was irrelevant and improperly admitted	Ward contends the testimony showed impermissible character evidence	No abuse of discretion; admissible under Williams

Williams v. State, 134 Ohio St.3d 521 (2012-Ohio-5695) (three-step test for admissibility of other acts evidence; relevant, proper purpose, not unduly prejudicial)
State v. Jones, 2013-Ohio-150 (Ohio 2013) (applied Williams to admit prior acts to show motive, preparation, plan)
State v. Henderson, 76 Ohio App.3d 290 (1991) (prior bad acts remote in time; evidence not sufficient for substantial proof under Henderson)
State v. Vore, 2012-Ohio-2431 (Ohio 2012) (discusses admissibility of other acts; corroboration considerations)