State v. Lucas

Citations

• 2025 Ohio 845

Syllabus

Judgment reversed and cause remanded for a new trial. As the state concedes, the trial court erred by failing to strictly comply with the jury waiver requirements of R.C. 2945.05 before conducting the bench trial that resulted in appellant's convictions for felonious assault and having a weapon while under disability. Appellant's assignments of error challenging the trial court's evidentiary rulings are moot, but remand does not moot his challenge to the legal sufficiency of the evidence. Based on the testimony of the victim, which was corroborated by an audio recording of the incident, as well as the certified copies of appellant's previous convictions, the state's evidence was legally sufficient to convict appellant on both counts.