21 results for 'judge:"Hess"'.
J. Hess finds defendant's erratic and "moody" behavior during the traffic stop and field sobriety tests conducted by the arresting officer, along with his admissions he smoked marijuana and drank alcohol earlier in the day, was sufficient for a reasonable jury to find him guilty of DUI, especially considering he drove across the center line immediately before the stop. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Hess, Filed On: April 26, 2024, Case #: 2024-Ohio-1642, Categories: Evidence, Dui
J. Hess finds that despite the lack of physical evidence, defendant's rape convictions were not against the weight of the evidence. The victim's testimony about several instances of both oral and vaginal sex, some of which included defendant choking her, established all the elements of the offenses and proved his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Hess, Filed On: April 24, 2024, Case #: 2024-Ohio-1640, Categories: Evidence, Sex Offender
J. Hess finds that the lower court properly granted the plaintiff property owners a prescriptive easement over defendant's property to access their property. Substantial evidence supports the plaintiff's position that their use of defendant's property was adverse from 1999 to 2019. Affirmed.
Court: Missouri Court Of Appeals, Judge: Hess, Filed On: April 16, 2024, Case #: ED111508, Categories: Property
J. Hess finds that while evidence defendant used illegal drugs before the party at which he sexually assaulted the victim had no relationship to his opportunity or preparation to commit the crime and was, therefore, prejudicial, it was properly admitted by the trial court to prove an essential element of the rape offense - whether defendant's ability to know the victim was impaired was in question at the time of the assault. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Hess, Filed On: March 25, 2024, Case #: 2024-Ohio-1105, Categories: Evidence, Sex Offender
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J. Hess finds that the trial court should have suppressed evidence during defendant's drug case. While the police officer had probable cause to initiate an investigative stop of defendant, he did not have reasonable suspicion to search his vehicle. He did not see defendant purchase any drugs and there were no odors or evidence of drugs in the vehicle. Although defendant eventually gave consent to search after an initial refusal, this consent was based on the officer's statement that he "had reasonable suspicion" and would "search it anyway," which rendered the consent invalid. Reversed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Hess, Filed On: February 13, 2024, Case #: 2024-Ohio-624, Categories: Drug Offender, Search
J. Hess finds statements made to police identifying defendant as the perpetrator of an assault were properly admitted into evidence by the trial court. They were made less than 15 minutes after the assault took place and nearly immediately after the arrival of police, which qualified them as excited utterances. Meanwhile, although defendant was indigent at the time of the crime and his trial, the failure by his attorney to request a waiver of costs did not constitute ineffective assistance because the aggravating circumstances of the crime, including the severity of the victim's injuries, would have rendered such a request futile. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Hess, Filed On: January 22, 2024, Case #: 2024-Ohio-198, Categories: Ineffective Assistance, Assault, Identification
J. Hess finds the trial court properly allowed defendant's videotaped confession to be played at his trial on rape and gross sexual imposition charges. Other evidence, including testimony that he engaged in various sexual acts while the victim was impaired by medication, established the essential elements of the charges. Meanwhile, defendant's admission in the confession that the victim "didn't know what she was doing" and was "in and out of it" because of the medication established she was not able to consent and was substantially impaired; therefore, his convictions were supported by sufficient evidence. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Hess, Filed On: October 25, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-3945, Categories: Evidence, Sex Offender
J. Hess finds the state followed the proper chain of custody for DNA evidence found on a cloth Crown Royal bag, including checking the item in and out of the police evidence room, and that the bag was properly admitted into evidence. The prosecution was not required to prove how the bag arrived at the crime scene but was only required to track it once it came into its possession. Meanwhile, although defendant was properly convicted of murder and attempted murder, those charges and convictions could not be used by the state to support the conspiracy to commit murder charge, which must be vacated in light of the state's failure to include in the indictment an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy. Affirmed in part.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Hess, Filed On: September 28, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-3566, Categories: Dna, Murder, Conspiracy
J. Hess finds the trial court properly denied defendant's request for a jury instruction on the lesser-included offense of negligent assault. Evidence in the record, including eyewitness testimony from several individuals, proved he fired more than one shot at the party and intentionally aimed his gun at the victim, which supported only a felonious assault charge and conviction. Meanwhile, even though several of the witnesses were intoxicated at the time of the crime, the jury was in the best position to determine their credibility, while video evidence also showed defendant with a gun immediately before the shooting. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Hess, Filed On: September 25, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-3434, Categories: Firearms, Assault, Jury Instructions
J. Hess finds the lower court properly granted permanent custody of the child to family services. The mother failed several drug tests throughout her case plan, missed several visits with the child and failed to complete required counseling services, all of which prevent her from providing a safe environment for the child. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Hess, Filed On: September 11, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-3203, Categories: Evidence, Family Law
J. Hess finds that the lower court properly dismissed the taxpayer's lawsuit against the city challenging the city's use of public funds to hire a marketing agency to generate support for a ballot measure to raise local sales tax by 0.25%. The taxpayers have made no showing of irreparable injury and have no private right of action to challenge the city's conduct. Affirmed.
Court: Missouri Court Of Appeals, Judge: Hess, Filed On: August 22, 2023, Case #: ED111084, Categories: Civil Procedure, Tax
J. Hess finds that the lower court improperly dismissed Ohio University students’ and an employee’s discrimination claim, which asserted that the school violated their constitutional rights with its vaccination policy. Reversed in part.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Hess, Filed On: July 19, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-2511, Categories: Civil Rights
J. Hess finds that the lower court improperly found for the landlord in a tax dispute with Old Navy, its tenant. A material issue of fact remains as to whether Old Navy knowingly waived its right to have the leased property separately assessed for real estate tax purposes. Reversed.
Court: Missouri Court Of Appeals, Judge: Hess , Filed On: July 18, 2023, Case #: ED111214, Categories: Landlord Tenant, Contract
J. Hess finds the trial court did not violate defendant's due process rights during his drug trafficking case when it denied his motion for a new trial after the state amended its indictment to remove location identifiers. Although his defense centered around where drugs and firearms were discovered by police, he knew the locations of the evidence more than a year before the trial began and was still free to make his arguments regardless of the language used in the indictment. Meanwhile, the amounts of fentanyl compounds found in the apartment safe and BMW, a vehicle defendant admitted he bought with "drug money," along with defendant's other admissions to police about his criminal activities, were sufficient to convict him. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Hess, Filed On: June 30, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-2331, Categories: Drug Offender, Evidence, Due Process
J. Hess finds that the lower court improperly allowed a defendant driver's set-off defense because the plaintiff driver's insurer lacked authority to settle claims on her behalf. The defendant driver cannot show that AAA's payment to the insurer was an accommodation payment made to the plaintiff. Reversed.
Court: Missouri Court Of Appeals, Judge: Hess, Filed On: June 20, 2023, Case #: ED111064, Categories: Insurance, Tort
J. Hess finds the trial court properly granted the property owner's motion for summary judgment on its contract claim against the restaurant that abandoned the premises and breached the parties' lease agreement. Although the space was rented out to another tenant shortly after the abandonment, the owner was still entitled to recover full damages under the contract, which granted full title and ownership of the property and all improvements to the owner. Therefore, the court was not required to offset damages by the amount of rent received by the owner from the new tenant. Affirmed.
Court: Ohio Court Of Appeals, Judge: Hess, Filed On: June 13, 2023, Case #: 2023-Ohio-1978, Categories: Damages, Contract
J. Hess finds that the lower court properly found for the developer in a dispute over its legal interest in a subdivision. The homeowners lack standing to bring a declaratory judgment action because they do not have a legally protectable interest in who possesses developer rights in their subdivision. Affirmed.
Court: Missouri Court Of Appeals, Judge: Hess, Filed On: June 13, 2023, Case #: ED110707, Categories: Real Estate, Contract
J. Hess finds that the lower court properly dismissed the raw ingredient supplier's suit alleging the defendant company threatened its customers with legal action over their use of the supplier's "NitroRocket," a specially engineered extract of arugula designed for sports nutrition, which allegedly infringed on the defendant's rights. There is no evidence that the alleged conduct was committed in or had significant links to Missouri, so the suit was correctly dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. Affirmed.
Court: Missouri Court Of Appeals, Judge: Hess, Filed On: May 23, 2023, Case #: ED111095, Categories: Tort, Jurisdiction, Business Practices