State v. Schaaf

Citations

• 2019 Ohio 196

Syllabus

The defendant appeals his conviction for the aggravated murder of his son. The defendant claimed he acted in self-defense. A detective's brief testimony concerning the defendant's pre-arrest silence was improper but the defendant received a fair trial because of substantial evidence of guilt. The trial court properly overruled the defendant's motion to suppress certain statements to police where he was not in custody during police questioning. The state submitted sufficient evidence to demonstrate prior calculation and design where the defendant admitted using a hatchet to strike fatal blows to his unconscious son to ensure that he was \finished off.\ The jury did not lose its way in finding that the defendant did not establish self-defense.