State v. Clarke

Citations

• 2024 Ohio 2921

Syllabus

SELF-DEFENSE — EXCESSIVE FORCE — FELONIOUS ASSAULT —MITIGATION — SUDDEN FIT OF PASSION — COOLING OFF PERIOD — INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL — EXPERT TESTIMONY : The trial court did not lose its way by rejecting defendant's self-defense claim and convicting defendant of felonious assault because surveillance footage showed defendant using excessive force when he kicked an incapacitated victim in the head more than ten times, and defendant's fear that an incapacitated victim would cause great bodily harm is objectively unreasonable. The trial court did not err when it found that defendant was not acting in a sudden fit of passion or rage when he attacked the victim because the 30-minute interlude between the first and second altercation constituted a sufficient cooling-off period to dampen defendant's alleged passion and rage. Defendant did not establish an ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim based on trial counsel's failure to call an expert witness because mere speculation about the substance of a hypothetical expert's testimony cannot establish a reasonable probability that, but for the alleged error, the outcome would have been different.