State v. Mariucci

2023 Ohio 4795
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 28, 2023
DocketL-23-1033
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 2023 Ohio 4795 (State v. Mariucci) 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. Mariucci, 2023 Ohio 4795 (Ohio Ct. App. 2023).

Opinion

[Cite as State v. Mariucci, 2023-Ohio-4795.]

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO SIXTH APPELLATE DISTRICT LUCAS COUNTY

City of Toledo Court of Appeals No. L-23-1033

Appellee Trial Court No. CRB-22-05794

v.

Sean M. Mariucci DECISION AND JUDGMENT

Appellant Decided: December 28, 2023

*****

Rebecca Facey, City of Toledo Prosecuting Attorney, and Jimmy Jones, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for appellee.

Tyler Naud Jechura, for appellant.

ZMUDA, J.

I. Introduction

{¶ 1} Appellant, Sean Mariucci, appeals the February 15, 2023 judgment of the

Toledo Municipal Court, finding him guilty of aggravated menacing in violation of R.C.

2903.21(A). Appellant argues that the trial court erred in allowing the city to use

unauthenticated evidence to improperly impeach his testimony, that his conviction is against the manifest weight of the evidence, and that he received ineffective assistance of

counsel. For the following reasons, we affirm the trial court’s judgment.

II. Facts and Procedural Background

{¶ 2} On June 21, 2022, the trial court issued an arrest warrant for appellant based

on the victim, S.B.’s sworn complaint that appellant engaged in conduct that constituted

aggravated menacing in violation of R.C. 2903.21(A). The charge arose from a June 15,

2022 incident in which appellant, S.B.’s neighbor, threatened to kill her, stating that “she

would be in a body bag[.]” Appellant was arrested on September 17, 2022. Two days

later, on September 19, 2022, appellant entered a not guilty plea to the charged offense.

The matter was set for trial on February 2, 2023.

{¶ 3} Prior to trial, the city provided appellant with copies of videos it received

from S.B. The videos came from a camera mounted on S.B.’s property and directed at

appellant’s residence. The city also produced photographs downloaded from appellant’s

social media accounts. None of the videos or photographs were taken on the date of the

underlying incident.

{¶ 4} On the morning of trial, appellant filed a motion in limine seeking to

prohibit the introduction of the videos and photographs. Appellant did not allege that the

videos were unauthenticated in his motion and acknowledged that the videos included

him making “certain commentary” toward the S.B.’s cameras. He argued that the videos

were irrelevant to the underlying offense and constituted inadmissible “other acts”

evidence under Evid.R. 404(B) because there was no video depicting the incident for

2. which he was charged. He also argued that the evidence was inadmissible because its

probative value was substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice as

described in Evid.R. 403. Appellant renewed these arguments at an in-chambers hearing

just prior to trial. The city argued that the evidence did not constitute “other acts”

evidence but would be introduced to show S.B.’s state of mind regarding the June 15,

2022 incident, and her fear that appellant might actually cause her harm, an element of

the charged offense. The trial court took the motion under advisement and the matter

proceeded to trial where the parties elicited the following testimony:

Testimony of R.M.

{¶ 5} R.M. is S.B.’s grandson. He lived with S.B. at all times relevant to the

underlying incident. Although he could not recall the date of the underlying incident, he

described the details of what occurred. R.M. was in S.B.’s living room when he heard

appellant tell S.B. that he was going to kill her and her husband and put them both in the

same body bag. He also testified that he was familiar with appellant and recalled

overhearing additional interactions between appellant and S.B. He testified that these

interactions were not friendly. He then identified appellant in the courtroom for the

record.

{¶ 6} On cross-examination, R.M. testified that he had prior friendly interactions

with appellant. He testified that appellant was nice to him “most of the time” but that

their friendliness ended with the underlying incident.

3. Testimony of S.B.

{¶ 7} S.B. testified that she lived on Canevin Drive in Toledo, Lucas County,

Ohio, at the time of the underlying incident. She testified that while she was sitting on

her front stoop on June 15, 2022, at approximately 11:00 p.m., appellant walked up to his

neighboring front gate and told her “I’m going to kill you and your husband and put you

in a body bag.” She testified that she previously had a friendly relationship with

appellant but that it had ended a few years prior. She could not cite a specific incident

that led to the change in their relationship.

{¶ 8} During her testimony, the city introduced its Exhibit A—a Facebook post in

which he complained about S.B.’s husband allegedly working with the IRS to shut down

appellant’s brother’s business. Appellant objected to the introduction of the exhibit,

arguing that it was irrelevant. The trial court admitted it “for the very limited purpose for

state of mind of the alleged victim in this case only.” S.B. testified that she received it

from one of appellant’s family members. Her initial reaction to the post was the

appellant’s mental health was “quickly declining.” She testified that her husband had

hired appellant’s brother’s business to move his daughter to Texas. She was unaware of

any additional contact between her husband and the business.

{¶ 9} S.B. was next presented with city’s Exhibit B—a photograph of appellant

standing in his kitchen holding two firearms. Appellant again objected, without stating a

specific basis. The trial court overruled the objection. S.B. explained that she received

this photograph from one of appellant’s family members, and had seen the photograph on

4. her neighbor’s and the “mother of [appellant’s] children’s” cell phones prior to the June

15, 2022 incident. S.B. stated that she found the photograph “kind of scary.” She

testified that she thought of both the Facebook post and the photograph at the time of the

June 15, 2022 incident. She stated that this caused her to believe that “[appellant] was

going to kill us.”

{¶ 10} The city next introduced its Exhibit C—a flash drive containing videos S.B.

emailed to the state. S.B. stated that the drive included “some videos on that I had sent to

you.” The videos were of “the harassment that we put up with every day from my next-

door neighbor, [appellant].” Appellant objected to the admission of these videos into

evidence, again arguing that they depicted “other acts” and were not relevant to the

charged offense. The trial court allowed S.B. to give further testimony as to what the

drive actually contained before ruling on the objection. S.B. testified that the videos were

taken within the six months prior to trial and close to the time of the underlying incident

and depicted appellant yelling at S.B. Appellant then renewed his objection. The trial

court sustained the objections and the videos were not played during S.B.’s testimony.

S.B. then concluded her direct examination testimony by identifying appellant in the

courtroom.1

1 The videos were not admitted into evidence at the close of the city’s case-in-chief in light of the trial court’s ruling on appellant’s objection.

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2023 Ohio 4795, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-mariucci-ohioctapp-2023.