State v. Rivas

In State v. Rivas, 172 Ohio App.3d 473, 2007 Ohio 3593, 875 N.E.2d 655, the appellant had been convicted of importuning and attempted unlawful sexual conduct with a minor for engaging in inappropriate on-line chats with an undercover police officer who had been posing as a 14-year-old girl. 172 Ohio App. 3d 473, 2007 Ohio 3593, at P1, 875 N.E.2d 655. On appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Second District, Rivas challenged the trial court's ruling that he not be allowed to make an electronic copy of the police department's computer hard drive. Id. at P2. Rivas also argued that the transcripts of those chats should not have been admitted into evidence because they were not properly authenticated. Id. The Second District reversed and stated: while we do not hold that the trial court was required to allow the making of an electronic copy of the hard drive, we do conclude that the trial court abused its discretion by refusing to allow any means for Rivas to be assured that the transcripts provided to him by the police, purporting to represent the information stored on the hard drive concerning his conversation with "Molly," were both complete and accurate. Id. at P10. Ultimately, the court held: Where there is direct evidence of a conversation allegedly constituting the crime with which a defendant is charged, we hold that the right to a fair trial, embodied in the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and in Section 10, Article I of the Ohio Constitution, includes the right of the defendant to some reasonable means of verifying that a purported transcript of the conversation, prepared from the direct evidence by the adverse party, is accurate and complete. Id. at P19.