State v. Frost

Citations

• 2019 Ohio 93

Syllabus

Sufficiency manifest weight. A claim of insufficient evidence raises the question whether the evidence is legally sufficient to support the verdict as a matter of law. In reviewing a sufficiency challenge, the relevant inquiry is whether, after viewing the evidence in a light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime proven beyond a reasonable doubt. In contrast to a sufficiency argument, a manifest weight challenge questions whether the state met its burden of persuasion. A reviewing court weighs the evidence and all reasonable inferences, considers the credibility of witnesses and determines whether in resolving conflicts in the evidence, the jury clearly lost its way and created such a manifest miscarriage of justice that the conviction must be reversed and a new trial ordered. A conviction should be reversed as against the manifest weight of the evidence only in the most exceptional case in which the evidence weighs heavily against the conviction.