LIMA — The jury trial for a Lima man charged with having sex with an unconscious 16-year-old female more than a year ago has been pushed into 2022.
The state of Ohio sought and was granted a continuance of the trial of Cornelius Ware, 30, due to the current unavailability of a DNA analysis expert from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
Assistant Allen County Prosecuting Attorney Joe Everhart termed that person an “important state witness” in seeking the continuance. Judge Jeffrey Reed, citing a “very, very crowded court docket,” rescheduled the trial for Jan. 25. Ware’s trial was originally set to begin next week.
According to court documents, police were dispatched to Mercy Health-St.Rita’s Medical Center on Sept. 2, 2020, in reference to a sex offense. At the hospital they spoke with a 16-year-old female who said she drank a bottle of beer and became intoxicated. She said she went to a house on South Collett Street and became sick but didn’t remember anything after that.
She told police her cousin told her he caught Ware “doing it to her,” but the girl said she didn’t remember the incident. A sexual assault kit was performed at the hospital.
Police went to the Collett Street address, collected bedding and spoke to the cousin who witnessed the alleged event. She said that after the minor female got sick, she was placed in an upstairs bedroom and passed out.
The cousin told police some males, including Ware, came to the residence. Ware said he had to use the bathroom and went upstairs. Later the cousin went upstairs and found Ware with his pants down engaged in sexual conduct with the 16-year-old. She told police she kicked Ware out of the residence.
She said that in later texts Ware claimed “we didn’t do nothing.”
After the alleged incident, Ware left the Lima area and moved to Columbus, where he was arrested in August. He was indicted by an Allen County grand jury in October on charges of rape, gross sexual imposition and sexual battery.
A motion during Tuesday’s hearing for a reduction in Ware’s bond was taken under consideration by the judge.
By J Swygart
