The Ohio Supreme Court has rejected the imposition of a victim no-contact order along with a prison sentence, saying the two punishments can't be handed down for the same crime.
The court's unanimous ruling says a no-contact order is meant for parole-type sanctions and can't be included with a prison term.
Wednesday's ruling came in the case of David Anderson, a Summit County man convicted of rape and kidnapping and ordered to have no contact with his victim along with a 17-year sentence.
The court found that lawmakers intended prison time and what are known as community-control sanctions as alternative sentences for a felony crime.
The ruling resolved conflicting opinions between two lower courts.