YOUNGSTOWN — The 7th District Court of Appeals has reversed 71 of the 73 convictions of Dustin Ruiter on rape and other charges, ordered the case back to common pleas court with an order that Ruiter get an expert DNA witness to assist in his defense.

Judge Anthony D’Apolito of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court sentenced Ruiter, 48, to 77 years in prison after a jury found Ruiter guilty in January 2022 of 33 counts of rape and other offenses involving two girls and guilty of gross sexual imposition involving a third girl.

The appeals court upheld the gross sexual imposition charges, but erased all of the other convictions on the grounds that D’Apolito erred in not approving fees for Ruiter to hire an expert on Ruiter’s behalf to testify at trial regarding DNA evidence, the appeals panel said.

The 36-page ruling detailed the efforts of Ruiter’s attorney, Bradley Olsen Jr., to secure an expert witness, including in November 2020, about a year after Ruiter was indicted. In August 2020, Olson told the judge a friend of Ruiter was willing to pay for the expert witness to “address the potential transferability of semen and bodily fluids through nonsexual means,” the ruling states.

Olson said it was difficult during COVID-19 to obtain expert services and sought a delay in the trial.

But the judge found that the defense had not “shown that hiring an expert would present any more value than having his counsel cross-examine the (Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation) witnesses and results at trial,” the ruling noted.

“It’s not a right you have to hire an expert. It’s a privilege, if you will, if you cannot afford it.” The judge added, “So I’m not inclined to move this (trial date) or to grant a lot of leeway on that.”

The judge gave the defense another week to obtain the money for the expert witness. But Sept. 16, 2021, Olson asked for the state to pay for an expert DNA witness for Ruiter because Ruiter could not afford to pay and the family friend was no longer able to help with the cost.

D’Apolito appointed Olson to serve as court-appointed attorney for Ruiter and allowed Olson to file a motion on the appointment of an expert witness. The judge ruled against the motion Sept. 27, 2021, and the trial began Oct. 18, 2021.

Judges Mark Hanna and Cheryl Waite ruled to reverse the convictions and sentences for rape, attempted rape and sexual battery involving two of the victims. Judge Carol Ann Robb offered a dissenting opinion.

The Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office argued against the appeal, saying the judge was correct in denying fees for the expert witness because the defense failed to “set forth a particularized need for the experts he requested, hired his own attorney and repeatedly informed the court that he would be securing funds to retain an expert.”

Ruiter attended 16 hearings and “never requested the appointment of an expert at state expense” and that it was “only at the final pretrial 19 days before the trial, when (Ruiter) requested that he be declared indigent and appointed counsel and a state-funded expert witness,” the ruling states.

But the majority stated that Olson “aptly educated himself on DNA evidence and conducted a suitable cross-examination” of the state’s DNA expert. But “a DNA expert for the defense could have aided the defense. A DNA expert for the defense could have distilled the DNA lab report and (a DNA expert’s) complex scientific testimony … and easy transferability of DNA,” the ruling states.

The majority’s ruling states that the ruling is not an opinion on the evidence or guilt or innocence of Ruiter, only on the “adequacy of the process leading up to a decision.”