State v. Mattox

Citations

• 2025 Ohio 239

Syllabus

The jury's verdict convicting appellant on one count of theft under R.C. 2913.02, elevated to a first-degree felony under R.C. 2913.02(B)(2) based on the amount of money stolen and the victim's status as a protected person, was not against the manifest weight of the evidence, nor was the evidence legally insufficient to support the verdict, where appellant admitted to withdrawing over $450,000 from his elderly aunt's bank accounts and spent it on gambling at casinos. Although the bank had made him joint account holder, the state's evidence rebutted any presumption that appellant shared equally in ownership of the account funds, and the evidence showed that he did not have the victim's consent to take the funds. The record does not support appellant's assertion that the trial court's denial of his motion to sever the single theft account charge into three different ones violated the requirement of jury unanimity under Crim.R. 31(A).