23 results for 'judge:"Abele"'.
J. Abele finds that while three eyewitnesses failed to mention defendant as one of the victim's two assailants when police initially interviewed them, their statements at trial, all of which indicated defendant had beaten the victim who later died of his injuries, were sufficient to convict him of assault. The jury was in the best position to determine their credibility and the testimony was bolstered by photos of defendant's swollen and injured hands. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Abele, Filed On: April 25, 2024, Case #: 2024-Ohio-1673, Categories: Evidence, Assault
J. Abele finds that although defendant claimed both the victim and her husband lied about the victim's age before they engaged in sexual conduct, her attorney's failure to argue the state could not establish the mens rea for her charge of pandering sexually-oriented material involving a minor did not constitute ineffective assistance. Defendant admitted in her plea hearing she knew the victim was under the age of 18 and that she willfully created recordings of their sexual acts. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Abele, Filed On: April 19, 2024, Case #: 2024-Ohio-1502, Categories: Ineffective Assistance, Plea, Child Pornography
J. Abele finds that the lower court properly granted the board of commissioners' motion for summary judgment. It did not breach its duty of care to the residents whose home was damaged by a sewer backup that developed quickly and was unclogged nearly as soon as the city became aware of the issue. Although the sewer line had become clogged in the past, the residents presented no evidence the city knew of any deterioration or defects that would have required it to take preventive action before another clog developed, and so it cannot be held responsible for property damage. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Abele, Filed On: April 18, 2024, Case #: 2024-Ohio-1569, Categories: Evidence, Government, Negligence
J. Abele finds the trial court properly denied defendant's motion to suppress in his guilty-plea case to trafficking in cocaine. His failure to use headlights at night gave the arresting officer probable cause to initiate a traffic stop, while his story he intended to stay in West Virginia for several days - one contradicted by his rental car agreement, which required the return of the vehicle to Chicago the following day - was enough to establish probable cause for a search with the officer's canine unit. Although the "field test" weight of the cocaine found in defendant's vehicle differed from that established by subsequent lab tests, the trial court properly admitted the cocaine into evidence because the prosecution established a proper chain of custody and the weight discrepancy was addressed by an expert witness at trial. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Abele, Filed On: April 10, 2024, Case #: 2024-Ohio-1460, Categories: Drug Offender, Evidence, Search
J. Abele finds defendant's decision to leave loaded weapons in an unlocked gun cabinet was undoubtedly a contributing factor in the death of the victim in an accidental shooting during a sleepover and, therefore, satisfied the necessary elements for the jury to convict him of involuntary manslaughter. Although defendant may not have intended his children or the victim to retrieve the guns, it was not out of the "realm of possibility" or an unforeseeable consequence of his decision to leave the cabinet unlocked. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Abele, Filed On: April 2, 2024, Case #: 2024-Ohio-1330, Categories: Evidence, Manslaughter, Child Victims
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[Consolidated.] J. Abele finds the trial court properly granted permanent custody of the children to family services. Although the parents have a bond with their children and clearly love them, they failed to remedy substance abuse issues and continued to test positive for controlled substances after the children were first removed from their custody. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Abele, Filed On: April 2, 2024, Case #: 2024-Ohio-1332, Categories: Evidence, Family Law
J. Abele finds that although the trial court added a recklessness element to the jury instruction for defendant's driving with fictitious license plates charge, defendant was not prejudiced. It decreased the likelihood of a guilty verdict and did not affect the outcome of the trial. Meanwhile, defendant's erratic driving, admission to the arresting officer he had been "snorting a perc," and the officer's testimony about slurred speech and constricted pupils was sufficient to support his conviction for driving while impaired. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Abele, Filed On: March 15, 2024, Case #: 2024-Ohio-1036, Categories: Dui, Vehicle, Jury Instructions
J. Abele finds the lower court properly granted the neighbors' motion for summary judgment in a property dispute. The language in the easement shared with the property owner is unambiguous and allows only for an initial 30-foot wide strip of land to be used for access to a county road, not a 30-foot strip along the entire boundary of the neighbors' land. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Abele, Filed On: February 8, 2024, Case #: 2024-Ohio-521, Categories: Evidence, Property, Real Estate
J. Abele finds the trial court properly granted defendant's motion to suppress statements made to police after her arrest. Although her unprompted statement, "I fucked up," may have been incriminating, it did not prevent the application of Miranda considering the officers who interviewed her proceeded to ask specific questions about the burglary for which she was eventually charged. Additionally, although there was a gap between the pre- and post-Miranda sections of the interview, the similar lines of questioning and short duration of the gap rendered the questioning a single interview and allowed the trial court to suppress it in its entirety. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Abele, Filed On: February 8, 2024, Case #: 2024-Ohio-547, Categories: Burglary, Evidence, Miranda
J. Abele finds the trial court's failure to properly inform defendant he could be subject to lifetime registration requirements if he pleaded guilty to aggravated arson did not render his guilty plea involuntary. The registration requirements are remedial in nature and a trial court is not required to inform a defendant of such penalties in cases where a prison sentence is part of the punishment. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Abele, Filed On: February 1, 2024, Case #: 2024-Ohio-420, Categories: Plea, Arson
[Consolidated.] J. Abele finds the trial court erroneously imposed a $5,000 fine after defendant pleaded guilty to various drug trafficking charges. The fine was not announced in open and was imposed after both sides stipulated to her indigency, which renders the fine unlawful. However, the court made all necessary findings to impose consecutive sentences, including an analysis of the seriousness of the offenses and her likelihood to reoffend, and so the prison sentences will remain intact. Reversed in part.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Abele, Filed On: January 3, 2024, Case #: 2024-Ohio-59, Categories: Drug Offender, Sentencing
J. Abele finds the trial court properly imposed a 54-month sentence for each of defendant's 30 convictions for unlawful sexual conduct with a minor. Not only were the sentences within the statutory range, but defendant was fully advised of the maximum penalty he faced before he went to trial. Meanwhile, the failure by defendant's attorney to request a sentencing merger on all of the counts did not qualify as ineffective assistance because each of the counts was related to a specific instance of sexual intercourse or fellatio and could not be considered a single, continuous course of conduct that would have allowed for merger. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Abele, Filed On: January 3, 2024, Case #: 2024-Ohio-57, Categories: Sentencing, Sex Offender, Child Victims
J. Abele finds the trial court properly denied defendant's motion to withdraw her guilty plea on a drug possession charge. She was represented by competent counsel, was given a full hearing prior to entering her plea and did not have a legitimate reason to alter the plea, other than a change of heart. However, the trial court erroneously failed to fully advise defendant of the sentencing requirements, including a presumption of release after the initial prison term; therefore, the case must be remanded to allow for proper sentencing instructions. Affirmed in part.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Abele, Filed On: January 3, 2024, Case #: 2024-Ohio-58, Categories: Drug Offender, Sentencing, Plea
J. Abele finds the failure by defendant's attorney to object to testimony from a detective was not ineffective assistance. Although the detective claimed defendant admitted he would not contest the sexual imposition charges, defendant had already confessed his crimes to his employer and in another police interview; therefore, the admission of the statement did not "hand the case" to the state. Meanwhile, the trial court made all required findings before it imposed consecutive sentences for defendant's convictions and, therefore, his sentence is reasonable. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Abele, Filed On: December 20, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-4809, Categories: Ineffective Assistance, Sentencing, Sex Offender
J. Abele finds defendant's colloquy with the trial court during his plea hearing constituted a lawful waiver of his right to a trial and entered his Alford plea on the record, while the evidence and allegations in the indictment were sufficient to constitute an allocution of defendant's crimes. Meanwhile, the trial court was not required to sua sponte order a competency hearing because its lengthy discussion with defendant affirmed he was not under the influence of drugs and understood the effects of his plea deal. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Abele, Filed On: November 16, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-4305, Categories: Competence, Sex Offender, Plea
J. Abele finds the trial court violated the mother's due process rights when it held her in contempt for alleged violations of the couple's shared parenting plan. The pro se motions filed by the father lacked specific dates and details about the mother's alleged interference with his parenting time and prevented her from mounting a defense to the claims. Reversed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Abele, Filed On: October 19, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-3896, Categories: Contempt, Family Law, Due Process
J. Abele finds the trial court properly held jurisdiction over defendant's drug charges. Although the original indictment did not include specific weights of the drugs recovered during the arrest, the weight of the drugs would have mattered only during the punishment phase; therefore, defendant abandoned this claim when he pleaded guilty. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Abele, Filed On: October 13, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-3895, Categories: Drug Offender, Jurisdiction
J. Abele finds the father's failure to raise any objections to the court's process for determining violations of the parties' shared parenting plan prevents him from making any argument regarding the lack of an evidentiary hearing and, therefore, that portion of his appeal will be dismissed. Meanwhile, the trial court properly used both the Ohio and Florida shared parenting plans to craft a new plan because the parties did not expressly agree to copy the previous agreements; therefore, exclusions of some elements of those plans did not constitute a violation of the parties' settlement agreement. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Abele, Filed On: September 28, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-3611, Categories: Evidence, Family Law, Settlements
J. Abele finds the trial court properly imposed consecutive sentences after defendant pleaded guilty to grand theft and vandalism. It made all required findings, including the necessity of such sentences to protect the public from future harm based on defendant's criminal history. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Abele, Filed On: August 28, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-3108, Categories: Sentencing, Theft, Plea
J. Abele finds the trial court properly granted the estate's motion for summary judgment and ratified the decedent's will because the decedent's nephews put forth no evidence to indicate the hospital employees who acted as witnesses when the document was signed were unreliable, or that the decedent was not of sound mind at the time the document was signed. The nephews had not seen or visited with the decedent for a significant period of time when he signed the document, and so the lower court properly rejected all of their claims regarding testamentary capacity. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Abele, Filed On: July 26, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-2760, Categories: Evidence, Wills / Probate
J. Abele finds the probate court properly granted the executors' motion for summary judgment on claims filed by other beneficiaries of the decedent's will. Although there were disputed facts about the presence of a notary at the time the document was signed, the signatures on the document, including those of the decedent and two witnesses, were valid and rendered the document properly executed. Additionally, any concerns about the mental capacity of the decedent at the time he executed the will were meritless, given that none of the beneficiaries had seen or spoken to him for at least 18 months prior to the will's execution in the hospital. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Abele, Filed On: July 26, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-2760, Categories: Evidence, Family Law, Wills / Probate