State v. Hoffmeyer

2014 Ohio 3578
Ohio Court of Appeals·Decided August 20, 2014·No. 27065·Published·Cited by 16 cases

Opinion

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

STATE OF OHIO C.A. No. 27065 Appellee

v. APPEAL FROM JUDGMENT ENTERED IN THE

SAMUEL D. HOFFMEYER COURT OF COMMON PLEAS COUNTY OF SUMMIT, OHIO

Appellant CASE No. CR 12 09 2777

DECISION AND JOURNAL ENTRY Dated: August 20, 2014

WHITMORE, Judge.

{¶1} Appellant, Samuel D. Hoffmeyer, appeals his conviction and sentence from the Summit County Court of Common Pleas. This Court affirms.

I

{¶2} On the night of September 25, 2012, Akron Police Officer Greg Joyce and his partner were inside the Sheetz gas station on the corner of Main and Waterloo Road. A customer entered the store and told them that a truck had just crashed in the parking lot. Officer Joyce and his partner went out to investigate and to see if there were any injuries.

{¶3} Officer Joyce observed a maroon truck crashed over the guardrail separating Sheetz from a neighboring business. There was no one inside the truck. As Officer Joyce looked for the driver, he observed someone running in the neighboring parking lot. Officer Joyce pursued that individual who was eventually apprehended and identified as Hoffmeyer. Officer Joyce noticed a very strong odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating from Hoffmeyer

and that his speech was slurred. Hoffmeyer claimed that a woman, whom he had met at a bar, was driving the truck. He claimed that he did not know the woman’s name, where she had gone, or any other information about her. Officer Joyce did not observe any woman in the vicinity of the crashed truck.

{¶4} Because the Sheetz store in question straddles the border of the City of Akron and Coventry Township, Deputy Brad Tackett of the Summit County Sheriff’s Office also responded. As Hoffmeyer exited Officer Joyce’s cruiser, Deputy Tackett noticed him stumbling. In addition, Deputy Tackett smelled the odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from Hoffmeyer and observed that he had glassy, watery eyes. Deputy Tackett administered field sobriety tests to Hoffmeyer and placed him under arrest.

{¶5} From store employees, Deputy Tackett learned there was video surveillance of the accident. Deputy Tackett reviewed a portion of the videotape with the store manager and requested a copy from the store’s corporate office. A few days later, Deputy Tackett picked up the copy of the video, reviewed it, and placed it in the evidence room at the Sheriff’s Office.

{¶6} The grand jury indicted Hoffmeyer for operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs (“OVI”) in violation of 4511.19(A)(1)(a), a felony of the fourth degree because Hoffmeyer had five similar convictions within twenty years of the current offense. See R.C. 4511.19(G)(1)(d). The indictment included a prior convictions specification pursuant to R.C. 2941.1413. The matter proceeded to a jury trial.

{¶7} Officer Joyce and Deputy Tackett were the only witnesses to testify at the trial.

Over defense counsel’s objections, the State played portions of the Sheetz surveillance video. Officer Joyce identified himself in the video as he enters the parking lot and approaches the

crash. The State, then, rewound the video approximately three minutes. At that time, the video shows a maroon truck enter the parking lot and crash into the guardrail.

{¶8} Viewing another angle from the video surveillance, Officer Joyce identified the Sheetz gas pumps and a vehicle that “appeared to be the same vehicle that crashed in the parking lot.” He verified that the time matched the time of the crash in the prior angle. Officer Joyce identified the driver of the crashed vehicle as a male with facial hair from an angle of the video surveillance that captured images of drivers’ faces as they entered the Sheetz parking lot. Officer Joyce further testified that the driver was wearing clothes that matched Hoffmeyer’s clothes when he was apprehended. He again verified that the time corresponded with that in the other video angles.

{¶9} Deputy Tackett, who had arrived on scene later, confirmed the video accurately depicted the location of the maroon truck when he arrived. Deputy Tackett testified as to how he obtained the video. During his investigation, Deputy Tackett determined that the truck was registered to a business owned by Hoffmeyer. The parties stipulated that Hoffmeyer had been convicted of five prior OVI offenses in the past twenty years.

{¶10} The jury found Hoffmeyer guilty of the OVI. The jury also found Hoffmeyer “guilty” of five prior convictions within twenty years. The court sentenced Hoffmeyer to twelve months of incarceration for the OVI and four years of incarceration for the prior convictions specification, to be served consecutively. The court also ordered Hoffmeyer to participate in a substance abuse program while incarcerated and suspended his driver’s license for his lifetime.

{¶11} Hoffmeyer appeals from his conviction and sentence, raising three assignments of error for our review.

II

Assignment of Error Number One

THE TRIAL COURT COMMITTED REVERSIBLE AND PLAIN ERROR IN ADMITTING SURVEILLANCE VIDEOTAPE OF A CAR CRASH IN VIOLATION OF THE RULES OF EVIDENCE.

{¶12} Hoffmeyer argues the trial court improperly admitted the surveillance video from Sheetz. More specifically, he argues that the video is hearsay that does not qualify under the business record exception, that the video was not properly authenticated, and that the officers provided impermissible lay opinions about the video. We disagree.

{¶13} The admission of videotape evidence is a matter of discretion for the trial court.

State v. Miller, 9th Dist. Lorain Nos. 10CA009922 & 10CA009915, 2012-Ohio-1263, ¶ 35. Accord State v. Turner, 9th Dist. Summit No. 26591, 2013-Ohio-2433, ¶ 23. This Court will not reverse a trial court’s admission of a video absent an abuse of discretion. Miller at ¶ 35. An abuse of discretion implies that the trial court was unreasonable, arbitrary, or unconscionable. Blakemore v. Blakemore, 5 Ohio St.3d 217, 219 (1983). Hearsay

{¶14} First, Hoffmeyer argues that the surveillance video is hearsay. According to Hoffmeyer, the State was required to present testimony of a record custodian from Sheetz to qualify the video for the business records exception to hearsay. See Evid.R. 803(6).

{¶15} Hearsay is an out-of-court “statement” offered for the truth of the matter asserted.

Evid.R. 801(C). Pursuant to Evid.R. 801(A), a statement is “(1) an oral or written assertion or (2) nonverbal conduct of a person, if it is intended by the person as an assertion.” In order to fall under the definition of hearsay, nonverbal conduct must be “intended by the actor to convey his

thoughts to another.” State v. Kniep, 87 Ohio App.3d 681, 685 (9th Dist.1993) (video showing six-month old child crying was not hearsay).

{¶16} In the instant matter, Hoffmeyer is not attempting to convey his thoughts to another by his conduct in the video. The video shows a man driving a maroon truck into the Sheetz parking lot, crashing, and fleeing on foot. The surveillance video is not a “statement” as that term is defined in Evid.R. 801(A), and therefore, not hearsay under Evid.R. 801(C). The trial court did not err in declining to require that it meet the business records exception for hearsay. Authentication

{¶17} Next, Hoffmeyer argues that the portion of the video showing the crash should have been excluded because neither witness observed the crash as it happened nor did they testify to the reliability of Sheetz’s video surveillance system.

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State v. Hoffmeyer, 2014 Ohio 3578 (Ohio Ct. App. 2014).

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