State v. Rouzier

Citations

• 2021 Ohio 1466

Syllabus

UNLAWFUL RESTRAINT — ASSAULT — EVIDENCE — PROSECUTOR — SENTENCING — ALLOCUTION — CRIM.R. 32(A): Defendant's convictions for unlawful restraint and assault were supported by sufficient evidence and not were not against the weight of the evidence where the victim credibly testified that defendant barricaded her in his house preventing her from leaving and separately injured her hand. The prosecuting attorney's unobjected-to use of \I believe\ and \I think\ to preface credibility arguments during closing argument, while improper, was not outcome determinative in a bench trial. The trial court erred by sentencing defendant without affording him the right of allocution as required by Crim.R. 32(A).