Ohio Supreme Court: Appeals Court must accept jury’s credibility assessment of rape victim’s testimony

An Ohio appeals court wrongly sat as a “13th juror” and questioned the victim’s credibility in a child rape case rather than deferring to the jury’s credibility determination, the Supreme Court of Ohio ruled today.

In a unanimous opinion, the Supreme Court reversed the Eighth District Court of Appeals, which vacated Nelson Reillo’s 2023 convictions for rape and gross sexual imposition. The victim, identified in court records as “E.C.,” came forward at 17 years old with allegations against Reillo that related to incidents nine years earlier.

Writing for the Court, Chief Justice Sharon L. Kennedy explained that the Eighth District evaluated E.C.’s credibility anew, finding her testimony inconsistent and undetailed. However, an appellate court sits as a 13th juror only when that court contradicts a jury’s findings in resolving conflicting evidence, she wrote.

E.C. testified at the trial, and no evidence contradicted her account of the crimes.

“Without conflicting testimony or evidence that completely discredited E.C., the Eighth District had nothing to weigh,” Chief Justice Kennedy wrote. “Consequently, Reillo’s convictions are not against the manifest weight of the evidence and we therefore reverse the Eighth District’s judgment.”