The Ninth District upheld an Alford plea but remanded for resentencing because the trial court failed to make any findings under R.C. 2929.14(C)(4) before imposing consecutive sentences.
The Ninth District reversed summary judgment for a property owner in a sidewalk fall case, holding that the open-and-obvious doctrine does not override negligence per se based on a municipal ordinance requiring sidewalk maintenance, and that the plaintiff’s statement about tripping was admissible as an excited utterance.
The Ninth District dismissed the State’s appeal of a trial court’s refusal to compel witness testimony, holding that R.C. 2945.44 requires full transactional immunity and that the State’s offer excluding murder was insufficient to compel testimony over a Fifth Amendment invocation.
The Ninth District affirmed a murder conviction, holding that the defendant forfeited jury instruction challenges by failing to object and that Ohio’s self-defense presumption under R.C. 2901.05(B)(2) was unavailable because the victim had a right to be in the residence.
The First District affirmed a juvenile delinquency adjudication for felonious assault, holding that FaceTime-based identification combined with social media confirmation was sufficient and that DYS commitment was appropriate for a first-time offender who fired a gun at a victim.
The Ninth District reversed summary judgment for the City of Hudson, holding that a termination clause in an MOU requiring good-faith negotiation of a commercially reasonable termination may be an enforceable agreement to negotiate under Ohio law.
The First District affirmed an OVI conviction, holding that probable cause to arrest does not require completed standardized field sobriety tests when the totality of officer observations supports impairment.
The Fifth District vacated a guilty plea to criminal mischief, holding that the trial court completely failed to inform the defendant that a guilty plea is a complete admission of guilt as required by Crim.R. 11(E), making a prejudice showing unnecessary.
The Seventh District affirmed summary judgment for the City of Salem in an employment discrimination case, holding that a part-time dispatcher failed to show the city’s performance-based reasons for his termination were pretextual despite evidence of gender-biased comments by his supervisor.
The Fifth District affirmed sexual battery and strangulation convictions, finding that the victim’s testimony, corroborated by SANE nurse examination, supported the trial court’s credibility determination in a bench trial.