State v. Austin

Marianna Brown Bettman, Judge.

PROCEDURAL POSTURE

Defendant-appellant, Richard Austin, appeals from his conviction and mandatory life sentence for the forcible rape of a person under the age of thirteen in violation of R.C. 2907.02(A)(1)(b) and (A)(2). He presents nine assignments of error for our review.

FACTS

On August 5, 1996, Austin was watching his girlfriend Toni Flowers’s four children while Flowers was at work. Austin told ten-year-old Randi Flowers to wash some dishes. She complained about this to Austin, who ordered her into the bedroom that he shared with her mother. Once in the…