State v. Wade

Citations

• 2026 Ohio 2183

Syllabus

Murder; self-defense; manifest weight; credibility; jury instructions; hearsay; Confrontation Clause. Judgment affirmed. Appellant's convictions were not against the manifest weight of the evidence. The State met its burden of rebutting appellant's self-defense claim beyond a reasonable doubt. The trial court also did not err in admitting witness testimony regarding decedent's plan to end her relationship with appellant. While hearsay, these statements fell into a recognized exception to hearsay under Evid.R. 803(3). Further, the statements did not violate appellant's due process rights under the Confrontation Clause of the United States Constitution because they were nontestimonial statements. The trial court did not abuse its discretion when it declined to include the definitions of \residence\ or \dwelling\ in the jury instructions because it was undisputed that the altercation took place in appellant and decedent's shared residence making these definitions irrelevant to any dispositive issues in the case.