State v. Hodge

2020 Ohio 901
Ohio Court of Appeals·Decided March 9, 2020·No. CT2019-0038·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinion

COURT OF APPEALS

MUSKINGUM COUNTY, OHIO

FIFTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

STATE OF OHIO : JUDGES:

:

: Hon. John W. Wise, P.J.

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

: Hon. Earle E. Wise, Jr., J.

-vs- :

: Case No. CT2019-0038

:

JOSEPH D. HODGE :

:

:

Defendant-Appellant : OPINION

CHARACTER OF PROCEEDING: Appeal from the Muskingum County Court of Common Pleas, Case No.

CR2019-0119

JUDGMENT: AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART, AND REMANDED

DATE OF JUDGMENT ENTRY: March 9, 2020

APPEARANCES: For Plaintiff-Appellee: For Defendant-Appellant:

D. MICHAEL HADDOX OHIO PUBLIC DEFENDER MUSKINGUM CO. PROSECUTOR CRAIG M. JAQUITH 27 North Fifth St 250 East Broad St., Ste. 1400 P.O. Box 189 Columbus, OH 43215 Zanesville, OH 43702

Delaney, J.

{¶1} Appellant Joseph D. Hodge appeals from the April 17, 2019 Entry of the Muskingum County Court of Common Pleas. Appellee is the state of Ohio.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

{¶2} This case arose on October 28, 2018, when Miranda Thomas discovered two people were living in her house. During the ensuing series of extraordinary events, appellant and his girlfriend Nikki Eblin attempted to steal the house from Thomas by, among other things, recording a fake deed.

{¶3} In early 2017, Miranda Thomas was living with her mother in her mother’s house on North Main Street in Roseville, Muskingum County. Thomas’ mother bought the house in 2010 but was now in ill health and required the services of a nursing home. Thomas’ mother therefore transferred title to the house to Thomas and her brother, Marshall Sanderson. A few months later, due to Medicare/Medicaid complications, the title was transferred into the name of Thomas alone. In early April 2017, Thomas’ mother passed away.

{¶4} Thomas continued to live at the house with her two young children. All of her own property was in the house, along with that of her mother and father. Thomas’ father passed away a few weeks after her mother. Items belonging to Sanderson were also still in the house. Around August 2017, Thomas received a notice of delinquent taxes on the property, and she paid them. In October 2017, she was served with a lawsuit by her mother’s former nursing home, which sought to foreclose against the home to recover fees for her mother’s care. Thomas hired an attorney specializing in real estate, Derrick Moorehead, to represent her in the lawsuit.

Muskingum County, Case No. CT2019-0038 3

{¶5} Thomas periodically had problems with the boiler in the house, and in January 2018 it stopped working altogether. Because it was winter and the house had no heat, Thomas moved into her father’s former residence a few blocks away. Thomas continued to drive by the house regularly and intended to eventually reside there.

{¶6} In June 2018, Thomas moved into her fiancé’s residence in Coshocton.

She continued to work in Crooksville, which allowed her to drive by and check on the house regularly. At the end of July, however, her car broke down, and she stopped working in Crooksville. She therefore drove by the Roseville residence less frequently. She continued to check on the residence approximately every two weeks, however, when her fiancé’s children had visitation.

{¶7} In mid-October, Moorehead advised Thomas that the nursing home dismissed the lawsuit and was no longer pursuing the house; therefore, Thomas owned the house free and clear. Thomas signed a note and Moorehead took a mortgage on the property to cover his fees of $1900.

{¶8} On October 28, 2018, Thomas and her mother-in-law Wendy Yocum drove together to drop off the children after visitation, and took the opportunity to check on the Roseville house. The women were shocked to find the garage door open and an unfamiliar truck parked in the driveway. A box truck and a smaller trailer were also parked near the house. Thomas and Yocum dropped the children off before investigating further, and called the Muskingum County Sheriff’s Department.

{¶9} While waiting for deputies to arrive, Thomas looked in the garage and found it unrecognizable. The garage had previously been divided in half, functioning as a music studio for her fiancé and a garage where Thomas stored her motorcycle. The motorcycle

Muskingum County, Case No. CT2019-0038 4

and the fiancé’s drums and music equipment were gone, replaced with property Thomas didn’t recognize.

{¶10} Thomas proceeded into the house through an unlocked door, and found more of the same inside. Some of the property of Thomas and her family was still present, but most was missing and the house was unrecognizable. There was unfamiliar stuff everywhere. Appliances were missing, there were holes in the walls, and entire bathrooms had been ripped out. Thomas encountered appellant and his girlfriend, Nikki Eblin, coming down the stairs. Thomas did not know either of them, and demanded to know why they were in the house and where her property was. Appellant said this wasn’t her house and she needed to get out. He said he bought the house on land contract and Thomas demanded to know from who.

{¶11} As they argued, appellant and Eblin said they would call the police and Thomas said police were already en route. Appellant stated, “Then I’ll shoot you and your family,” pulling up his shirt and revealing what Thomas believed to be a firearm in his waistband. Thomas said she, too, had a concealed-carry permit and a firearm, although she had left it in the vehicle outside.

{¶12} Yocum and Sanderson were with Thomas; they exited the house and Thomas called the sheriff again to tell them the person in her house had a gun. Deputies arrived on the scene and questioned everyone. Appellant insisted he was buying the house on land contract. Deputies were unable to determine who was in lawful possession of the house, told the parties it was a “civil matter,” and suggested Thomas should file an eviction. The first deputy on the scene testified at trial that his report writing on this case

Muskingum County, Case No. CT2019-0038 5

was “poor,” admitting that Yocum and Thomas told him appellant had a firearm but he neglected to document the allegation in the report.

{¶13} The parties remained on the scene after deputies left. Thomas and Yocum were in front of the house and Yocum leaned on the fence. Appellant came out of the house and put something under the front seat of his truck. He angrily demanded that Yocum move her car, and when she was slow to respond, he picked up what Yocum described as a “tire thumper” and menaced her with it, striking the fence close to her. Deputies returned to the scene and warned Thomas and Yocum that a civil matter could become criminal if they didn’t leave.

{¶14} Thomas arrived at Derrick Moorehead’s office early the next day (October 31) and he prepared a three-day eviction notice for her. Thomas returned to the house with a police officer to post the three-day notice. Three days later, the occupants had not vacated the premises. Thomas drove by the property and noticed more of her own personal property stacked up outside in a fire pit. She drove to the Roseville police department, which is only a half-block from the house. The house is visible from the parking lot; as Thomas spoke to Chief Carr, they observed heavy black smoke coming from the backyard of the residence. Carr found appellant in the backyard with a very large fire. Carr demanded that appellant put the fire out but had to call the fire department because the fire became too big for appellant to contain. The fire consumed a large amount of Thomas’ personal property.

{¶15} Appellant was angry that the fire department was involved. Carr told appellant he was “squatting” at the residence, but appellant told him to speak to his girlfriend because they were legally entitled to be there. Eblin claimed the utilities were in their names, and produced a gas bill as confirmation.

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State v. Hodge, 2020 Ohio 901 (Ohio Ct. App. 2020).

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