State v. Smith

Citations

• 2026 Ohio 552

Syllabus

Remand from Ohio Supreme Court; admissibility of police body-camera video; victim's out-of-court statements; victim does not testify at trial; Confrontation Clause; hearsay; harmless error; medical treatment or diagnosis exception to rule against hearsay. On remand from the Ohio Supreme Court we were instructed to review the nontestimonial out-of-court statements a victim, who did not testify at trial, made to EMTs that were captured by a police officer's body camera. Upon review, we found that the statements were admissible as hearsay under the medical treatment or diagnosis exception. We were further instructed to revisit our harmless error analysis of the admissible evidence, excluding the inadmissible out-of-court statements the victim made to the police officers, which violated the Confrontation Clause. Upon review, we found insufficient evidence to identify the defendant as the person who assaulted the victim.