A Lima man who is facing over 80 charges involving sexual contact with minors has decided to have his case heard by a judge only.
34-year-old Matthew Smith has waived the right to a jury trial and instead, he will have a bench trial. Smith was charged with 69 counts of rape. He is also charged with 4 counts of gross sexual imposition and 10 counts of sexual battery. According to the indictment, the victims' ages range from 8-years-old to 13-years-old at the time of the alleged sexual assaults, which started in March of 2019 and ran until September of 2020.
Recently Smith's lawyers tried to have interviews that the three alleged female victims made to forensic interviewers that work for Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus suppressed. He argues that since detectives from the Lima Police Department didn't conduct the interviews themselves those statements can't be used in Smith's trial. The judge overruled that motion and the trial will begin on January 25th.
