Can you be convicted in Ohio without a trial?

I haven't linked to the libertarian Journal of Applied Misanthropology for a while, but this post definitely caught my eye:

It seems that, in Ohio, without any fuss or muss or media coverage, the local government has decided to brand people as "sex offenders" without any of this annoying bother of "holding a trial" or "attaining a conviction". All that is needed is for someone to scream "He's a witch! Er...Rapist!", and the victim is marked for life. His photo will be placed on the Internet, he must report his whereabout to the cops, his neighbours must be alerted to his prescence, etc. All without ever being convicted -- or event tried -- for a crime.

Following the link to the toledoblade.com story, it seems to require a little more than an accusation to get you on the list, but not much:

A recently enacted law allows county prosecutors, the state attorney general, or, as a last resort, alleged victims to ask judges to civilly declare someone to be a sex offender even when there has been no criminal verdict or successful lawsuit.

The rules spell out how the untried process would work. It would largely treat a person placed on the civil registry the same way a convicted sex offender is treated under Ohio's so-called Megan's Law.

Um, WTF!?!? You ask a judge to declare someone a sex offender, and they can do so without a trial? That seems to violate just about every principle of our legal system. Maybe I should ask an Ohio judge to declare various Republicans I don't like to be sex offenders. Then the Ohio Republican establishment might repeal this ridiculous procedure. Yes, we need to be protected from sexual predators. But what happened to the right to defend yourself in court? Jury of your peers? All those "technicalities" that separate our system barbarism, thuggery, and mob rule have been tossed out the window because politicians are afraid of appearing "soft" on sex criminals. Damn, but the veneer of civilization is thin, thin, thin.