Judge in Dustin Clapsaddle Case Deciding if Victim Committed Perjury at Pre Trial Hearing

A hearing was held this (August 27) afternoon in Hardin County Common Pleas Court to determine if the victim in the Dustin Clapsaddle trial lied under oath at a separate hearing held prior to the start of the trial.

At issue is a social media website that the victim was discovered to be a member of that purportedly contains sexually explicit material.

At the hearing before the trial, Judge Steve Christopher asked the victim this question, “Have you posted yourself engaged in sex with persons other than the defendant.?” She replied in the negative.

Also, during the pre-trial hearing, the victim claimed, when asked by defense attorneys, the site only contains images of her in swimsuits and lingerie.

At the August 27 hearing, defense attorney Rocky Ratliffe called Colby Rush to the stand.

He once taught with Clapsaddle and was a witness for the defense during the trial.

Rush testified that he created an account on her site and found several pictures of her in see-through clothing but nothing showing complete nudity.

He also testified he found two videos showing the victim nude in what appeared to be a bedroom and the other in the shower.

On cross exam, Rush said the dates for the photos and videos show they were posted sometime in July, which would have been after the June 25 hearing.

Clapsaddle’s mother also took the stand and said she found pay to view videos with sexually explicit captions on the victim’s site, but she did not pay to view them. The dates as to when those postings were made were not clearly visible in the evidence submitted to the Court.

During arguments, Ratliffe claims he has submitted enough proof to show the victim perjured herself, and he would be able to present that at a new trial while satisfying Ohio’s Rape Shield Law.

Assistant Prosecutor Siobhonne Ward argued that the State does not believe the victim committed perjury and no evidence has been submitted to prove she did.

She asked the Court to deny the defense’s motion to declare a mistrial.

Judge Christopher took the matter under advisement, and he said he will issue a written ruling as soon as possible.