Court of appeals upholds local decision in gross sexual imposition case

Ohio's Fourth District Court of Appeals has filed a judgment upholding a local court's decision to deny a motion to suppress in a gross sexual imposition case, in which a local man was accused of sexual abuse against a child.

Darrell Phillips, Jr. was indicted in October 2010 in Highland County Common Pleas Court on one count of gross sexual imposition, a felony of the third degree. In February 2011, he entered a plea of no contest and was sentenced to four years in prison. In April, his attorney, Conrad Curren, filed an appeal, alleging that the court wrongfully denied the motion to suppress.

According to the judgment of the court of appeals filed online Thursday, "Phillips contends that his statements to children services employees must be suppressed because the employees were agents of law enforcement and improperly interrogated him after he invoked his Fifth Amendment rights. However, the employees fulfilled their statutory duty when they questioned Phillips and were not acting at the direction, control or behest of law enforcement. Therefore, they were not agents of law enforcement and not bound to (follow a Miranda warning) when they questioned Phillips. Because the interview by children services employees did not violate Phillips' constitutional rights, the trial court properly denied the motion to suppress, and we affirm (the judgment from Highland County Common Pleas Court)." 

During the local court proceedings, the state was represented by the Highland County Prosecutor's Office, and during the appeal by Highland County Prosecutor Anneka Collins. 

Following his indictment, according to the appeal, "Phillips filed a motion to suppress statements he made to Highland County Children Services employees. Phillips claimed they were agents of law enforcement and elicited incriminating statements from him in violation of his Fifth Amendment rights."

According to the court documents, Philips was arrested on an outstanding warrant by the Lynchburg Police Department on Sept. 8, 2010, and they investigated allegations that Phillips had been abusing a child under age of 9 years old. He was interrogated by Sgt. Dustin Malone of the LPD. Phillips denied the allegation and stated he no longer wished to speak to Malone and that he wanted an attorney. At that time, the interview was stopped. Malone completed a report on the incident and turned the matter over to the Highland County Sheriff's Office. 

Breanne Perry and Jeff Rulon, of Highland County Children Services, testified that on Sept. 28 they interviewed Phlilips as part their investigation into allegations of abuse. They testified that they were conducting their own interview as part of their mandated work, and that they were not acting at the direction of law enforcement, according to court documents. During that interview, they testified, Phillips allegedly confessed to the sexual abuse. By law, according to their testimony, they are required to turn over to law enforcement "any information that has a criminal element to it." 

The local court found that Phillips' constitutional rights were not violated when he was interviewed by Perry and Rulon because they were "acting on their own duties to investigate child abuse reports made to them[,]" and there was "no evidence that [they] were acting as agents of the Sheriff's Department in conducting their interview."

The court of appeals found that, "In the absence of any evidence that Rulon and Perry acted at the direction, control or behest of law enforcement, we agree with the trial court's conclusion that they were not agents of law enforcement. Therefore, they did not violate Phillips' constitutional rights by questioning him without an attorney after he invoked his Fifth Amendment rights. Accordingly, we overrule the sole assignment of error and affirm the trial court's judgment."

Phillips is currently incarcerated in the Madison Correctional Institute in London, Ohio.