The Akron Legal News

Intruder who sexually assaulted sleeping woman loses appeal

ANNIE YAMSON
Special to the Legal News
Published: October 29, 2014

A Clark County man’s conviction on one count of gross sexual imposition was recently affirmed by a panel of judges in the 2nd District Court of Appeals.

The reviewing court ruled that the Clark County Court of Common Pleas relied on sufficient evidence to convict Tyrone Coran but found that the lower court improperly designated Coran as a Tier II sex offender.

At Coran’s trial, the victim testified she was asleep in bed with her 2-year-old granddaughter and her son on the night of the incident.

She stated that she felt someone jerking her arm and then felt a hand reach under the blanket and touch her vagina.

The victim testified that the touching woke her up and she screamed. When she opened her eyes, she saw Coran sitting next to her on the bed.

After she screamed, Coran mumbled something about Xanax, left the house and walked across the street.

After the incident, case summary states that the victim called the police and identified Coran as her assailant. She later identified him in a photo spread.

Based primarily on the victim’s testimony, a jury found Coran guilty of gross sexual imposition and he was ordered to serve a prison term of 18 months.

The trial court classified Coran as a Tier II sex offender but, on appeal, the higher court upheld his argument that a person convicted of gross sexual imposition under R.C. 2907.05(A)(5) is a Tier I offender.

However, the appellate panel found little merit to Coran’s remaining claims including his challenge to the manifest weight of the evidence.

“Here, Coran contends the weight of the evidence fails to establish that he is the person who touched the victim’s vagina or that he knew or had reasonable cause to believe the victim was asleep,” Judge Michael Hall wrote on behalf of the court of appeals.

Judge Hall went on to cite the victim’s testimony that, when she awoke, Coran was the only other person in the room aside from the two young children sleeping in bed.

“The victim testified that no one other than Coran was in a position to have been touching her vagina,” wrote Judge Hall. “Based on the victim’s testimony, the jury reasonably could have concluded that Coran did touch her vagina. Such a conclusion is not against the manifest weight of the evidence.”

The appellate panel also ruled that the evidence supported a finding that Coran knew that the victim was asleep and could not consent to any sexual contact.

At trial, Harry Straight, who was also living in the house at the time, testified that Coran was in the victim’s room for 30 minutes before the victim screamed and Coran left.

The court of appeals’ summary of events did not disclose why Straight knew of the intruder but did nothing.

“These circumstances support a finding that Coran had reasonable cause to believe the victim was asleep,” wrote Judge Hall. “Indeed, it would be difficult to spend 30 minutes in a room with three sleeping people without becoming aware or having reasonable cause to believe that they were asleep.”

Coran went on to argue that there were no witnesses to the improper touching but the appellate panel held that, unlike a sexual imposition charge, a gross sexual imposition charge does not need corroboration.

The judgment of the Clark County court was affirmed and the case was remanded solely for the purpose of correcting Coran’s sex offender designation.

Judges Mary Donovan and Jeffrey Welbaum concurred.

The case is cited State v. Coran, 2014-Ohio-4406.

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