State v. Hayes

Citations

• 162 N.E.3d 947
• 2020 Ohio 5322

Syllabus

ARSON – PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT – RESTITUION – WEIGHT OF EVIDENCE: Defendant's conviction for arson under R.C. 2909.03(A)(1) was not against the manifest weight of the evidence the jury was entitled to weigh the evidence, consider the motivations of the witnesses, and elect to believe all, part or none of the testimony offered. The prosecutor's misstatement in closing argument, and the trial court's error in failing to sustain defense counsel's objection to the misstatement, were harmless where, although the prosecutor incorrectly stated that defendant had provided certain information to an investigator, the information that defendant provided led to the investigator's discovery of that information, and the trial court addressed the issue by instructing the jury that the arguments of counsel were not evidence and that the jurors were the sole judges of the facts. The trial court did not err in ordering defendant to pay restitution to a victim for her economic loss where the court had an evidentiary basis to support its order of restitution a victim is not required to provide documentation to verify her economic loss, and R.C. 2929.18(A)(1) allows a court to base the amount of restitution it orders on an amount recommended by the victim. The trial court did not err in ordering defendant to pay restitution to a victim for her economic loss because defendant's arson offense necessitated the victim's having to rent a car while her arson-damaged car was repaired, the victim's car rental expenditure was a direct and proximate result of the offense. The trial court erred in ordering defendant to pay restitution to a victim for the victim's parking expenditures related to her court appearances for defendant's arson case because the expenditures were indirect costs and not the direct and proximate result of defendant's commission of the arson offense.