State v. Kirby

2020 Ohio 4005
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 10, 2020
DocketCA2019-05-078
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 2020 Ohio 4005 (State v. Kirby) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Kirby, 2020 Ohio 4005 (Ohio Ct. App. 2020).

Opinion

[Cite as State v. Kirby, 2020-Ohio-4005.]

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS

TWELFTH APPELLATE DISTRICT OF OHIO

BUTLER COUNTY

STATE OF OHIO, :

Appellee, : CASE NO. CA2019-05-078

: OPINION - vs - 8/10/2020 :

BRYAN KIRBY, :

Appellant. :

CRIMINAL APPEAL FROM BUTLER COUNTY COURT OF COMMON PLEAS Case No. CR2018-07-1131

Michael T. Gmoser, Butler County Prosecuting Attorney, Stephen M. Wagner, Government Services Center, 315 High Street, 11th Floor, Hamilton, Ohio 45011, for appellee

Rodriguez & Porter, Ltd., Paul W. Shonk, 5103 Pleasant Avenue, Fairfield, Ohio 45014, for appellant

PIPER, J.

{¶1} Appellant, Bryan Kirby, appeals from his convictions in the Butler County Court

of Common Pleas for aggravated burglary, arson, and two counts of aggravated arson. For

the reasons discussed below, we affirm his convictions.

{¶2} One morning in early September 2017, in Middletown, Ohio, appellant's Butler CA2019-05-078

estranged wife awoke to knocking on her house's front door.1 When she answered the

door, she saw a man running away but warning that her house was on fire. She went

outside and observed that her vehicle, a Ford Explorer, parked in the driveway was fully

engulfed in flames and that the fire had spread to her house, the detached garage in front

of the vehicle, and her neighbor's wooden fence next to the driveway. The heat from the

fire was intense enough to damage the siding of the neighbor's house. She quickly went

back inside to rescue her young son and then retreated across the street. The fire

department arrived and successfully extinguished the fire.

{¶3} Fire and police departments opened investigations to determine the cause of

the fire. As part of the investigation, a police detective interviewed appellant. In the initial

interview appellant told the detective that he was not in Middletown on the day of the fire.

In a subsequent interview, however, appellant acknowledged that he was in Middletown on

the day of the fire but had gone there to meet a woman at a pharmacy downtown. Appellant

refused to provide the police with the name or contact information for this mystery woman.

The detective attempted to corroborate appellant's story by retrieving surveillance video

from businesses near the pharmacy, but the videos failed to show appellant in the area that

morning. Meanwhile, the fire department investigator determined that the fire originated in

the vehicle and the cause was man-made. A second fire investigator for the wife's

insurance company came to the same conclusion as to the fire's origin and cause.

{¶4} Later, in April 2018, appellant visited one of his cousins in Middletown. The

cousin noticed that appellant was acting odd that day as he seemed anxious and stressed.

At some point, appellant told the cousin that everybody was against him and taking his

children away from him. He then admitted that he had "only meant to get the explorer" and

1. The wife was living separate from appellant. The wife was granted a divorce from appellant during the course of the criminal case.

-2- Butler CA2019-05-078

did not intend for the fire to spread to the house because he did not want to hurt his son.

When the cousin suggested that he talk to the police, appellant threatened to beat her up if

she contacted law enforcement. Later that day, the cousin went to take the trash out of her

apartment when she noticed appellant standing on her patio. Appellant began yelling at

her and advancing toward the apartment. The cousin retreated inside as appellant followed

her. Upon entering, appellant picked up a coffee mug and struck the cousin in the head,

causing her to fall to the ground. Appellant then began turning over plants and throwing

papers on the floor before fleeing the apartment. In her distress, the cousin attempted to

call several different friends and relatives to help her, but no one responded. She eventually

called the police to come to her aid.

{¶5} Based on these events, a Butler County Grand Jury indicted appellant on six

offenses. For the April 2018 event, the grand jury indicted appellant on aggravated burglary

and assault. For the September 2017 event, the grand jury indicted appellant on two counts

of aggravated arson and two counts of arson. The matter proceeded to a jury trial in which

the state called eleven witnesses in its case-in-chief, including, appellant's estranged wife,

her next-door-neighbor, appellant's cousin, the lead police detective, a fire department

investigator, the insurance company's fire investigator, and a special agent with the Federal

Bureau of Investigation who assisted in analyzing cellular telephone records.2 In his

defense, appellant called five witnesses: three witnesses to establish his alibi for the April

2018 event and two expert witnesses, one in the field of fire investigation and the other in

cellular telephone record analysis. The state then called one rebuttal witness, the deputy

chief of the fire department. At the conclusion of the trial, the jury found appellant guilty as

charged.

2. The other witnesses included a coworker of appellant, a friend of the cousin who visited her on the day of the burglary, the police officer who responded to the burglary, and an insurance claims representative.

-3- Butler CA2019-05-078

{¶6} The matter proceeded to sentencing. The trial court merged the assault

offense into the aggravated burglary offense. Additionally, the trial court merged one of the

arson offenses into one of the aggravated arson offenses. The trial court sentenced

appellant to six years in prison on the aggravated burglary offense; seven years in prison

on each of the aggravated arson offenses; and 12 months in prison on the remaining arson

offense. The trial court ordered one of the aggravated arson offenses to be served

consecutively to the aggravated burglary offense, resulting in an aggregate sentence of 13

years in prison. The trial court ordered appellant to pay restitution to the victims and

informed him of a mandatory five-year term of postrelease control.

{¶7} Appellant now appeals, raising four assignments of error for review.

{¶8} Assignment of Error No. 1:

{¶9} KIRBY'S RIGHT TO EFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL WAS

PREJUDICIALLY VIOLATED WHEN HIS ATTORNEY FAILED TO SEEK REDRESS

FROM THE COURT FOR THE PROSECUTION'S SPOLIATION OF EVIDENCE HIGHLY

MATERIAL TO KIRBY'S DEFENSE.

{¶10} In his first assignment of error, appellant argues that he received ineffective

assistance of counsel because his trial counsel failed to move to either dismiss or suppress

after counsel learned that neither the victim's incinerated vehicle nor relevant engine

compartment components had been preserved by the investigating government agencies.

{¶11} To prevail on an ineffective assistance of counsel claim, appellant must

establish two factors: (1) that his trial counsel's performance was deficient, that is, the

performance fell below an objective standard of reasonable representation, and (2) he

suffered prejudice from the deficiency. State v. McLaughlin, 12th Dist. Clinton No. CA2019-

02-002, 2020-Ohio-969, ¶ 54. To show prejudice, appellant must demonstrate there is a

reasonable probability the result of his trial would have been different but for the alleged

-4- Butler CA2019-05-078

errors of his counsel.

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2020 Ohio 4005, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-kirby-ohioctapp-2020.