State v. Moore

Citations

• 2026 Ohio 1284

Syllabus

Domestic violence; manifest weight of the evidence; bench trial; credibility; victim testimony; delayed medical treatment; physical harm; attempt to cause physical harm; visible injury not required; Crim.R. 29; R.C. 2919.25(A). Judgment affirmed. Following a bench trial, appellant was convicted of domestic violence in violation of R.C. 2919.25(A), a felony of the third degree, for assaulting his mother in their shared home by shoving her into a freezer door after she refused to buy him cigarettes. In arguing that the conviction was against the manifest weight of the evidence, he claimed that the victim was not credible because she wanted him removed from the home, delayed going to the hospital, and allegedly could have deliberately injured herself after police told her the day before that appellant could not be removed from the home unless he put his hands on her. The trial court, as factfinder in a bench trial, was entitled to credit the victim's testimony over the appellant's denial, especially where photographs and medical records supported the victim's account. Visible injury is not required for a domestic-violence conviction because the statute also prohibits an attempt to cause physical harm. This was not the exceptional case in which the factfinder clearly lost its way and created a manifest miscarriage of justice.