The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

Registered offender indicted in rape case

Victim old enough but not mentally capable of giving consent, prosecution says.

State directs $2.1M for scholarships
8:40 p.m.
Health policy help on way
8:27 p.m.
Dayton gets boost from committee for UAV testing
6:14 p.m.
Ohio can finally collect $2.3M in fines
10:22 a.m.
Local soldier looks for job while at war
8:07 a.m.
> More headlines

By Brandon Smith-Hebson, Staff Writer Updated 10:17 PM Wednesday, February 22, 2012

SPRINGFIELD — A grand jury indicted a Springfield man on a rape charge Tuesday after police presented what they say is evidence he raped a teen girl who has the mental capacity of someone 6 to 8 years old.

Dee E. Carter, was arrested in connection with the case Feb. 10 and remains in the Clark County Jail.

The 16-year-old victim told investigators the sex had been consensual and occurred at the Knights Inn in Springfield on Nov. 30, 2011.

The legal age of consent in Ohio is 16, but law enforcement has the power to intervene in the cases of teens with reduced mental capacity.

“Based on her low IQ and her developmental disability, she doesn’t have the mental capacity to consent” in the legal definition, said Brian Driscoll, who’s prosecuting the case for Clark County.

Carter is set to be arraigned this week, where he will be assigned a judge and appearance dates in Clark County Common Pleas Court.

Carter was previously convicted on a separate rape charge and served a prison term, according to court documents. He was registered as a sex offender.

He was on parole in December when the crime in question was said to have happened.

The victim has an I.Q. of 48 — a measure that has been described in court documents as “the mentality of a 6- to 8-year-old.”

DNA evidence links Carter to the December crime, according to the prosecutor’s office. But this doesn’t necessarily secure a conviction, Driscoll said.

“In a case where someone says there had been no sexual contact, that would usually secure a conviction,” he said.

“Obviously, now he can’t claim they didn’t have some sort of sexual relationship,” Driscoll said. “At this point, it’s more about the question of ‘What is rape?’ ”

At the time of his arrest, Carter was living at 11½ S. Shaffer St. in Springfield.

Share this article