State v. Neal

Citations

• 2022 Ohio 1290

Syllabus

SELF-DEFENSE – EVID.R. 403 – EVIDENCE: Defendant met his burden of production to show that he used deadly force in self-defense so as to require the state to disprove at least one of the elements of self-defense where defendant's assertion that the victim pointed a gun in his face, which caused him to act in self-defense, was supported by evidence that the victim had a gun within reach. The trier of fact may reasonably have found that defendant did not act in self-defense when he shot and killed the victim where the state disproved at least one element of defendant's self-defense claim, which are: (1) the defendant was not at fault in creating the situation giving rise to the affray (2) the defendant had a bona fide belief that he was in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm and that his only means of escape from such a danger was in the use of such force and (3) the defendant did not violate any duty to retreat or avoid the danger. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting evidence of a chat and videos from defendant's Facebook page where the evidence was probative of defendant's identity, his possession of the weapon used to kill the victim, and his attempt to get rid of the weapon Evid.R. 403(A) did not require exclusion of the evidence where the record contains no indication that the evidence aroused in the trier of fact such passion, sympathy, horror, or instinct to punish so as to be unfairly prejudicial.