State v. Tiderman

In State v. Tiderman, Cuyahoga App. No. 83930, 2004 Ohio 6095, the Eighth District Court of Appeals was confronted with virtually the same scenario. In that case, the appellant argued, and the state conceded, that there was insufficient evidence to sustain evidence as to his victim's age. In reversing appellant's conviction on five counts of rape, the court explained: For counts one through five, the State had to prove Tiderman engaged in sexual conduct with the victim when she was under the age of thirteen. The record reveals the victim was born February 8, 1987. The victim testified the first sexual encounter with Tiderman was Halloween night in 1999 or 2000. This is crucial to the validity of the conviction on the first five counts of the indictment. If the first sexual encounter was in 1999, the victim would have been twelve years old, but if it occurred in 2000, she would have been thirteen years old. However, she was not certain as to whether it was 1999 or 2000. Because the State failed to overcome this uncertainty, we sustain the first two assigned errors and reverse convictions for counts one through five. Id. at P26.