State v. Calloway

2024 Ohio 703
Ohio Court of Appeals·Decided February 26, 2024·No. 2023 CA 00045·Published

Opinion

COURT OF APPEALS

LICKING COUNTY, OHIO

FIFTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

STATE OF OHIO : JUDGES:

:

: Hon. W. Scott Gwin, P.J.

Plaintiff-Appellee : Hon. Patricia A. Delaney, J.

: Hon. Andrew J. King, J.

-vs- :

: Case No. 2023 CA 00045 :

CHARLES F.C. CALLOWAY :

:

:

Defendant-Appellant : OPINION

CHARACTER OF PROCEEDING: Appeal from the Licking County Court of Common Pleas, Case No. 2022 CR 00467

JUDGMENT: AFFIRMED

DATE OF JUDGMENT ENTRY: February 26, 2024

APPEARANCES:

For Plaintiff-Appellee: For Defendant-Appellant:

JENNY WELLS RICHARD D. HIXSON LICKING COUNTY PROSECUTOR 3808 James Court, Suite 2 Zanesville, OH 43701

KENNETH W. OSWALT 20 S. Second St., 4th Floor Newark, OH 43055

Delaney, J.

{¶1} Defendant-Appellant Charles F.C. Calloway appeals his April 26, 2023 conviction and sentence by the Licking County Court of Common Pleas. Plaintiff-Appellee is the State of Ohio.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

{¶2} The criminal proceedings against Defendant-Appellant Charles F.C.

Calloway began at 1:30 a.m. on July 15, 2022, when two sisters worked together to call 911 and report that Calloway and their mother, M.S., were fighting and Calloway shoved their mother. Calloway was their mother’s boyfriend and he lived with them. The 13-year- old and 14-year-old testified that Calloway came home angry that night. He went into M.S.’s room and the children could hear them arguing. One child heard something break when it hit the ground. The child heard M.S. say that Calloway hit her, but the child did not witness Calloway hit her mother. Calloway and M.S. came out of their room and continued their argument in the hallway, where the children could see them from their rooms. M.S. started to go down the stairs when the children saw Calloway shove her. M.S. wobbled but did not fall. After that, one child got her phone, dialed 911, and handed it to her sister to speak to 911. In the 911 call, M.S. and Calloway can be heard arguing in the background. Calloway left the home when the child told him the police were on the way.

{¶3} The Newark Police Department was dispatched to the reported address.

When they got to the home, they knocked on the door and yelled, “Newark Police” for 30 minutes, but no one answered the door. After 30 minutes, the police officers forced entry into the home. The police officers found M.S. and the two children huddled on the bed in

M.S.’s bedroom. Calloway was not in the home. M.S. and the children did not want to speak with the police officers, but Officer Kristin Peacock was able to speak with M.S. and record the conversation on her cruiser cam video. M.S. told Officer Peacock that there was screaming and yelling when Calloway told M.S. to leave the residence, Calloway got aggressive, and then he left. When asked for more detail, M.S. said there was pushing and shoving, and Calloway pushed her down in the hallway. Officer Peacock testified the hallway was close to the staircase. M.S. did not report any injuries. The officers were concerned that Calloway would return to the home, so they took M.S. and the children to the police department to be picked up by a family member.

{¶4} Calloway was charged with domestic violence pursuant to R.C. 2919.25(A)

and he was later arrested on August 8, 2022. He was taken to the Licking County Jail. At the initial bond hearing, Calloway was ordered to have no contact with M.S., the alleged victim.

{¶5} On August 17, 2022, the Licking County Grand Jury indicted Calloway on one count of domestic violence, a fourth-degree felony in violation of R.C. 2919.25(A), in Case No. 22 CR 467. Calloway entered a plea of not guilty and was released on bond that continued the no-contact order between him and M.S., but on September 1, 2022, a capias was issued for his arrest for contacting M.S. and failing to report to probation. Calloway was arrested on October 6, 2022 and taken to the Licking County Jail.

{¶6} On October 20, 2022, the Licking County Grand Jury issued a superseding three-count indictment: (1) domestic violence, a fourth-degree felony in violation of R.C. 2919.25(A); (2) intimidation of a victim or witness in a criminal case, a first-degree misdemeanor in violation of R.C. 2921.04(A); and (3) making false allegations of peace

officer misconduct, a first-degree misdemeanor in violation of R.C. 2921.15(B). Calloway entered a not guilty plea to the charges and the no-contact order remained in place.

{¶7} The State brought the additional two charges against Calloway based on his behavior while in the Licking County Jail. Calloway was charged with Count Three after he alleged that a Licking County Jail officer asked him to sell drugs, which after an investigation proved to be a false statement. The State charged Calloway with Count Two, intimidation of a witness or victim in a criminal case, based on Calloway’s continued prohibited contact with M.S.

{¶8} Erik McCourt is the Chief Investigator with the Licking County Prosecutor’s Office. He was asked to locate M.S. in order to serve her with a subpoena. During his search for M.S., he reviewed recorded jail calls between M.S. and Calloway. McCourt learned that Calloway was using his jail account, and the jail accounts of other inmates in the Licking County Jail, to make multiple phone calls to M.S. Since the beginning of the case, McCourt stated he observed over 5000 jail recorded phone calls between Calloway and M.S. McCourt estimated that M.S. accepted and spoke with Calloway in about 800 calls. Calloway called M.S. multiple times a day, but M.S. did not always answer. One of the children testified that she knew Calloway was calling her mother and sometimes her mother shut her phone off.

{¶9} McCourt reviewed some of the phone calls between M.S. and Calloway. In one phone call, Calloway tells M.S. not to show up at the grand jury hearing even though she has been subpoenaed. Calloway says that if no one shows up, they have to release him. In another call, Calloway asks M.S. if she is going to the grand jury proceedings. M.S. says no. On August 18, 2022, Calloway calls M.S. and tells her that he was indicted.

Licking County, Case No. 2023 CA 00045 5 He tells her to speak with the prosecutor to drop the charges. On October 10, 2022, Calloway calls M.S. and tells her not to go anywhere because when he goes to trial and they can’t produce a witness or a victim, he walks out. On a December 5 call, M.S. confirms she is not going to court and Calloway responds that he’s going to have someone get ahold of her to make sure of that.

{¶10} On October 21, 2022, Calloway filed a request for relief from prejudicial joinder of the three charges. He argued that while that the domestic violence led to the additional misdemeanor charge of intimidation, there was no direct connection between the domestic violence charge and the charge of false allegations. Via judgment entry filed December 13, 2022, the trial court granted the motion to sever the misdemeanor counts from the felony counts in the indictment.

{¶11} On December 8, 2022, the Licking County Grand Jury issued a superseding three-count indictment charging Calloway with: (1) domestic violence, a fourth-degree felony in violation of R.C. 2919.25(A); (2) intimidation of a victim or witness in a criminal case, a first-degree misdemeanor in violation of R.C. 2921.04(A); and (3) falsification, a first-degree misdemeanor in violation of R.C. 2921.13.

{¶12} In December 2022, Calloway sent a letter to M.S., via M.S.’s mother. M.S.’s mother had known Calloway for 12 years. A portion of the letter read:

Your really starting to piss me off, fr, by ignoring me for no fuckin reason.

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State v. Calloway, 2024 Ohio 703 (Ohio Ct. App. 2024).

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