Can Trial Judge Impose "No Contact" Order When Sending Offender to Prison?

David M. Anderson v. State of Ohio, Case No. 2014-0674

Ninth District Court of Appeals (Summit County)

ISSUES:

- Once a judge sentences a defendant to prison, does the judge retain the authority to order the inmate not have contact with the victim, or does that authority rest solely with the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction or other correction authorities?

- If state law is silent on the nature of a "non contact" order does a judge have the discretion to add it to a prison sentence?