By Liz Shepherd
InkFreeNews

Rodriguez S. Todd

WARSAW — Rodriguez S. Todd, a 53-year-old California man who raped a woman in Warsaw over 20 years ago, is appealing his 80-year prison sentence with the Indiana Court of Appeals.

During a three-day jury trial in September 2022, Todd was found guilty of rape and kidnapping, both class A felonies. He was sentenced in October 2022 to 40 years in the Indiana Department of Correction on each charge, with both counts to run consecutively.

Todd is currently serving his prison sentence at the Indiana State Prison, with an estimated release date of Sept. 13, 2062.

On Nov. 23, 1999, a woman from Logansport said she was kidnapped by a black man with fake facial hair at a gas station in Warsaw, in the area of Center and Detroit Streets. The man took the woman to a wooded area, raped her twice, and left the scene.

The case remained cold until April 2019, when Indiana State Police were notified that a Combined DNA Index System search resulted in a computer match between Todd and a portion of the DNA profile entered earlier in the investigation.

The DNA profile collected in the investigation was at least one trillion times more likely if it originated from the woman and Todd than if it originated from the woman and an unknown person.

Sarah Medlin and Stanley F. Wruble III, Indianapolis, are representing Todd in his appeal, which states the trial court erred in denying Todd’s motion to dismiss the case and also argues the 80-year sentence is inappropriate.

Todd is requesting the Indiana Court of Appeals reverse and remand with instructions for Kosciusko Superior Court One to vacate his convictions. In the alternative, he is asking the Court of Appeals to reverse the imposition of consecutive sentences or reduce his sentences.

The 14-page appeal, filed on Jan. 13, details Todd’s reasonings for filing a motion to dismiss the case based on Criminal Rule 4.

Prior to his September 2022 trial, a pre-trial conference was scheduled for Nov. 15, 2021. Todd filed a motion to continue this conference, which was rescheduled for Nov. 29, 2021. At the Nov. 29 conference, Todd requested a trial date after March 16, 2022. The trial court set a pre-trial conference for Feb. 7, 2022, and deferred setting a trial date at that time.

After the February 2022 pre-trial conference, the jury trial was then scheduled to begin in June 2022. In a final pre-trial conference on May 2, 2022, the State moved to continue Todd’s jury trial. This motion was granted over Todd’s objection.

On July 31, 2022, Todd filed a petition for discharge and dismissal pursuant to Criminal Rule 4. In Indiana, this rule declares an individual accused of a crime has to be released on their own recognizance if they are incarcerated without a trial for a period exceeding six months from the date they were charged or arrested.

The court denied Todd’s motion and granted the State’s motion to continue the trial to mid-September 2022. The trial court attributed the two delays between Nov. 15, 2021, through Feb. 7, 2022, to Todd.

Todd agreed the delay between Nov. 15 and Nov. 29, 2021, was against him, but contended the further delays to Feb. 7, 2022, were attributable to the State.

In the appeal, Todd’s counsel argued Todd reluctantly complied to the trial court’s decision to not set a trial date at the Nov. 29, 2021, hearing. His counsel further argues the court’s transcript clearly states Todd “acquiesced to, rather than requested, the deferral of setting a trial date.”

“Todd acquiesced to the State’s request to delay the setting of a trial date in deference to the trial court’s heavy trial log,” read the appeal. “As such, the delay from Nov. 29, 2021, to Feb. 7, 2022, should not be attributed to Todd.”

In arguing Todd’s 80-year sentence as inappropriate, the appeal states the trial court did not provide a valid reason for imposing consecutive sentences against Todd.

At sentencing, Kosciusko Superior Court One Judge Karin McGrath found Todd’s criminal history, which involved domestic battery and reckless driving convictions, as an aggravating factor. She rejected Todd’s proposed mitigating factors, which included the circumstances of the case being unlikely to reoccur, and that Todd was a different person than he was in 1999. Todd presented nine letters of support which demonstrated his value to the community.

“The trial court did not explicitly find that the aggravator outweighed any mitigators, nor did the trial court find that the aggravator justified the enhanced or consecutive sentences,” read the appeal.

At the time of the crime, the sentencing range for a Class A felony was 20 to 50 years, with an advisory sentence of 30 years. The appeal argues there was no evidence the conduct in this case was worse than normal for the offenses, nor did Todd’s character as an offender justify the elevated sentence.

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