State v. Eggeman

2015 Ohio 5177
Ohio Court of Appeals·Decided December 14, 2015·No. 14CA0085-M·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinion

STATE OF OHIO ) IN THE COURT OF APPEALS )ss: NINTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COUNTY OF MEDINA )

STATE OF OHIO C.A. No. 14CA0085-M Appellee

v. APPEAL FROM JUDGMENT ENTERED IN THE

DANIEL J. EGGEMAN WADSWORTH MUNICIPAL COURT COUNTY OF MEDINA, OHIO

Appellant CASE No. 14CRB00097 (A-C)

DECISION AND JOURNAL ENTRY Dated: December 14, 2015

MOORE, Judge.

{¶1} Defendant-Appellant, Daniel J. Eggeman, appeals pro se from the judgment of the Wadsworth Municipal Court. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.

I.

{¶2} On December 6, 2013, Mr. Eggeman contacted the police to report that he was receiving unwanted emails and phone calls from his ex-wife, Becky Workman. Officer Keith Studer of the Wadsworth Police Department responded to Mr. Eggeman’s residence on Chestnut Street. Pamela Wingate, Mr. Eggeman’s fiancée, indicated that she was receiving threatening phone calls from Ms. Workman and Mr. Eggeman showed Officer Studer emails sent from the email address becky.workmam@gmail.com to his email address. Notably, the email address contained a misspelling of Ms. Workman’s last name. The emails expressed a desire for reconciliation and were critical of Ms. Wingate. Officer Studer had Mr. Eggeman, in Officer Studer’s presence, send an email to becky.workmam@gmail.com, requesting that the contact

cease. Several days later, Mr. Eggeman again contacted Officer Studer to report that Mr. Eggeman had received more emails and wanted Officer Studer to pursue charges against Ms. Workman.

{¶3} Officer Studer then went to Ms. Workman’s house to interview her. Ms.

Workman denied any involvement and claimed that she had not had contact with Mr. Eggeman since the summer. She indicated that the last time she saw Mr. Eggeman, he asked her to complete a statement and have it notarized. When she refused, Mr. Eggeman became very upset and told her she would be hearing from his lawyer.

{¶4} A few days later, Mr. Eggeman forwarded Officer Studer another email sent from the becky.workmam@gmail.com. That email included references that the sender and Mr. Eggeman had previously discussed ways to kill Ms. Wingate so the two could be together. Given the content, subpoenas were issued to Google for the Internet Protocol (“IP”) addresses of the Chestnut street address and the becky.workmam Gmail account for the period from December 6, 2013 through December 23, 2013. Records revealed that the Gmail account was created July 25, 2013, and was accessed from two IP addresses during the December time frame. Police then sent a subpoena to Frontier Communications, which is the cable internet provider associated with the IP addresses. The sum of the records indicated that the account was accessed, during the relevant time period, from Chestnut Street; specifically the address where Mr. Eggeman and Ms. Wingate lived. Laptop computers were seized from the Chestnut Street address and were analyzed by Officer Joshua Cooper, who specializes in computer forensics.

{¶5} Ultimately, complaints were filed against Mr. Eggeman on February 3, 2014, for two counts of falsification and one count of obstructing official business. While Mr. Eggeman initially was subject to a $5,000 cash or surety bond, it was subsequently modified and Mr.

Eggeman was released on bond. The Medina County Public Defender’s Office initially represented Mr. Eggeman, but later withdrew after Mr. Eggeman retained private counsel. Shortly thereafter, that counsel withdrew and Mr. Eggeman retained another attorney. The matter proceeded to a jury trial, during which Mr. Eggeman was represented by the third attorney. The jury found Mr. Eggeman guilty of the charges. Mr. Eggeman represented himself at sentencing and his sentence was stayed pending appeal.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR

{¶6} Mr. Eggeman’s single assignment of error consists of a score of paragraphs of rambling and disjointed complaints detailing his disagreement, in no particular order, with the trial court’s decision, his encounters with the police, the sheriff, and the local prosecutor, the ineffectiveness of his attorney, the bond on which he was held, his improper arraignment, prosecutorial misconduct, presentation of false evidence, and the denial of self-representation. The assignment of error violates both the letter and the spirit of App.R. 16, and severely limits our ability to respond to the arguments made in the brief. With respect to pro se litigants, this Court has held that:

[P]ro se litigants should be granted reasonable leeway such that their motions and pleadings should be liberally construed so as to decide the issues on the merits, as opposed to technicalities. However, a pro se litigant is presumed to have knowledge of the law and correct legal procedures so that he remains subject to the same rules and procedures to which represented litigants are bound. He is not given greater rights than represented parties, and must bear the consequences of his mistakes. This Court, therefore, must hold [pro se appellants] to the same standard as any represented party.

State v. Klingensmith, 9th Dist. Lorain No. 13CA010514, 2015-Ohio-807, ¶ 6, quoting State v. Taylor, 9th Dist. Lorain No. 14CA010549, 2014-Ohio-5738, ¶ 5, quoting Sherlock v. Myers, 9th Dist. Summit No. 22071, 2014-Ohio-5178, ¶ 3.

{¶7} Many of Mr. Eggeman’s arguments are not developed in his brief, see App.R.

16(A)(7), rely on evidence that was not before the trial court at the time (such as the affidavit of disqualification), or rely on video or audio testimony that Mr. Eggeman asserts does not appear in the transcribed copy. To the extent the foregoing applies, his arguments will not be considered. Sufficiency of the Evidence

{¶8} Mr. Eggeman suggests that there was insufficient evidence to sustain the guilty verdicts.

{¶9} The issue of whether a conviction is supported by sufficient evidence is a question of law, which we review de novo. State v. Thompkins, 78 Ohio St.3d 380, 386 (1997).

An appellate court’s function when reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence to support a criminal conviction is to examine the evidence admitted at trial to determine whether such evidence, if believed, would convince the average mind of the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The relevant inquiry is whether, after viewing the evidence in a light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

State v. Jenks, 61 Ohio St.3d 259 (1991), paragraph two of the syllabus.

{¶10} Mr. Eggeman was found guilty of violating R.C. 2921.13(A)(2) and (A)(3) and R.C. 2921.31.

{¶11} R.C. 2921.13(A) provides in relevant part that:

No person shall knowingly make a false statement, or knowingly swear or affirm the truth of a false statement previously made, when any of the following applies:

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(2) The statement is made with purpose to incriminate another.

(3) The statement is made with purpose to mislead a public official in performing the public official’s official function.

{¶12} “A person acts knowingly, regardless of his purpose, when he is aware that his conduct will probably cause a certain result or will probably be of a certain nature. A person has knowledge of circumstances when he is aware that such circumstances probably exist.” Former R.C. 2901.22(B). “A person acts purposely when it is his specific intention to cause a certain result, or, when the gist of the offense is a prohibition against conduct of a certain nature, regardless of what the offender intends to accomplish thereby, it is his specific intention to engage in conduct of that nature.” Former R.C. 2901.22(A). A public official includes law enforcement officers. See R.C. 2921.01(A).

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