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Home > Blogs > Dayton Courts: Legal and crime news > Archives > 2011 > March > 16 > Entry
Former Constitution Party candidate makes plea deal in teen sex case
DAYTON - Eric W. Deaton, the former Constitution Party candidate for U.S. Senate accused of having sex with a teenage girl, pleaded no contest Wednesday to two misdemeanor counts.
Deaton, 43, of New Lebanon, was indicted on one count of unlawful sex with a minor, a felony. He went to trial on that charge in January in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court, but when a jury deadlocked, a visiting judge declared a mistrial on Jan. 6.
On Wednesday, Deaton appeared before Judge Michael L. Tucker and pleaded no contest to child endangering, a first-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to 180 days in the county jail, and obstructing official business, a second-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail.
In exchange, assistant county prosecutors dismissed the felony count. Tucker then convicted Deaton.
Tucker set sentencing for April 13, but told Deaton that he would be placed on probation as long as he cooperated with a pre-sentencing investigation, had no violations of the law before sentencing, he returned to court for sentencing, and he had no contact with the victim, who had been the Deaton family’s babysitter.
Tucker also ordered Deaton be tested to see if he needs any type of counseling.
The original charge was a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison. The indictment alleged that, between March 2006 and March 2007, he engaged in sexual conduct with a girl who was between the ages of 13 and 15.
Deaton was on the November 2010 ballot as the Constitution Party candidate. He has admitted having a sexual relationship with the girl, but said it was after she turned 16.
The alleged victim, 19 when she testified at trial, said the first time she had sex with Deaton was in November or December of 2006. She said she had been working on a home-remodeling project for the Deatons at the time, and had been painting the foyer that day. She turned 16 in March 2007.
During the trial, Deaton’s wife Dianna testified that the foyer remodeling project was finished by late June 2006, and defense attorneys said that made her account impossible.
Prosecutors played a portion of a taped phone conversation the girl made with the help of police. In it, a voice identified as Deaton’s says, “You can just say nothing happened. It’s that simple.”
Deaton, the Constitution Party candidate for Sen. George Voinovich’s seat, received more than 61,000 votes in the Nov. 2 election. That was the best showing of three third-party candidates, but significantly behind Democrat Lee Fisher and Republican Rob Portman, who won the race.
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