Youngstown Daily Legal News

Rapist loses appeal for shorter sentence

JESSICA SHAMBAUGH
Special to the Legal News
Published: January 27, 2014

The 12th District Court of Appeals recently affirmed a trial court’s decision not to merge a man’s convictions for felonious assault and rape.

James Tannreuther appealed his sentence from the Butler County Court of Common Pleas and argued that his convictions should merge.

He claimed that because he used the same force to assault his victim and to rape her that the charges should have been considered allied offenses of similar import.

Tannreuther’s charges stemmed from a domestic dispute in November 2012.

Police were dispatched to the victim’s home on the morning of Nov. 17, 2012 to investigate a domestic violence report.

“Upon arrival to the scene, the police made contact with the victim who showed obvious signs of assault,” Judge Robin Piper wrote in his case summary.

The report stated that the officers observed “severe redness” and bruising on the victim’s neck as well as red spots on her face.

They also described her shirt as having blood on it and her underwear being torn.

When the officers entered the home they saw urine and feces on the woman’s bed linens and pillow.

The victim told the officers that she was awakened by Tannreuther strangling her with the cord from her cell phone charger.

She said he then released her but then raped her and stole items from her home before fleeing the home.

The police noted that the victim had a valid protection order against Tannreuther and took her to the hospital for treatment.

Her medical evaluation showed that she had been subjected to both anal and vaginal intercourse and that her left eye had hemorrhaged during the strangulation.

Police took Tannreuther into custody and interviewed him about the incident.

He told the officers that he had been invited to the victim’s home on the day in question and had consensual vaginal intercourse with her.

When police confronted him with evidence of anal intercourse, Tannreuther began crying and admitted that he may have “suffered a ‘black out’ and committed the crimes based upon his anger and animosity toward the victim,” according to the case record.

Tannreuther was indicted for attempted murder, felonious assault, rape, violating a protection order, domestic violence and petty theft.

He pleaded guilty to felonious assault, rape, violating a protection order, domestic violence and petty theft and the state nolled the remaining charges.

At a sentencing hearing, the common pleas court heard from the victim and considered mitigation factors and merger requests presented by the state and Tannreuther.

It agreed to merge the charges for violation of a protection order and domestic violence but rejected an argument to merge the rape and felonious convictions.

Tannreuther was sentenced to seven years for felonious assault and 10 years for rape, with the sentences to be served consecutively for a total of 17 years in prison.

On appeal, he again argued that his convictions for rape and felonious assault should have merged.

“Tannreuther argued at his sentencing hearing, and on appeal, that the crimes of rape and felonious assault should merge because the force he used to rape the victim was the strangulation that constituted the felonious assault charge,” Judge Piper stated.

Upon review, the judges agreed that it was possible to commit both rape and felonious assault with the same conduct.

They further determined, however, that the state presented evidence that Tannreuther committed felonious assault by strangling the victim and dragging her with a cell phone cord and that he committed rape by using force to engage in intercourse with her.

Tannreuther did not object to that statement of facts and failed to object to the information in the presentence investigation report.

That report included the victim’s statements, in which she concluded that Tannreuther raped her separately from strangling her with the cord.

“After reviewing the record, we find nothing to establish that the rape and felonious assault occurred by way of a single act by Tannreuther, with a single state of mind,” Judge Piper continued.

The judges held that in the absence of any indication that the crimes were committed through a single act with the same frame of mind, Tannreuther failed to show that his crimes were allied offenses to be merged.

Presiding Judge Robert Ringland and Judge Michael Powell joined Judge Piper in affirming the lower court’s judgment.

The case is cited State v. Tannreuther, 2014-Ohio-74.

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