State v. McCoy

2017 Ohio 4163
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 7, 2017
Docket28103
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

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Bluebook
State v. McCoy, 2017 Ohio 4163 (Ohio Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

[Cite as State v. McCoy, 2017-Ohio-4163.]

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

STATE OF OHIO C.A. No. 28103

Appellee

v. APPEAL FROM JUDGMENT ENTERED IN THE ANGELO S. MCCOY COURT OF COMMON PLEAS COUNTY OF SUMMIT, OHIO Appellant CASE No. CR 2014 11 3501 (Z)

DECISION AND JOURNAL ENTRY

Dated: June 7, 2017

HENSAL, Presiding Judge.

{¶1} Defendant-Appellant, Angelo McCoy, appeals from his conviction in the Summit

County Court of Common Pleas. This Court affirms.

I.

{¶2} On the evening of November 15, 2014, multiple law enforcement agencies

conducted a raid at a home in Akron. The raid occurred because the police suspected that a large

scale, illegal dogfight was set to occur on the property. As a result of the raid, the police arrested

more than 45 individuals in connection with dogfighting. Mr. McCoy was one of the individuals

whom the police arrested. At the time of his arrest, he had $436 in cash on his person.

{¶3} A grand jury indicted Mr. McCoy on one count of dogfighting, in violation of

Revised Code Section 959.16(A)(5), as well as a criminal forfeiture specification for the $436 in

cash. Mr. McCoy ultimately went to trial along with another of his co-defendants. The jury 2

found him guilty of dogfighting, but the court dismissed the forfeiture specification linked to that

count. The court sentenced him to serve 180 days in jail and one year of community control.

{¶4} Mr. McCoy now appeals from his conviction and raises four assignments of error

for our review. For ease of analysis, we rearrange and consolidate several of the assignments of

error.

II.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR II

MR. MCCOY’S CONVICTION FOR DOGFIGHTING WAS AGAINST THE MANIFEST WEIGHT OF THE EVIDENCE.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR III

THE TRIAL COURT COMMITTED REVERSIBLE AND PLAIN ERROR WHEN IT OVERRULED MR. MCCOY’S CRIM. R. 29(A) MOTION FOR JUDGMENT OF ACQUITTAL BECAUSE THE EVIDENCE WAS INSUFFICIENT TO SUPPORT A CONVICTION FOR DOGFIGHTING.

{¶5} In his second and third assignments of error, Mr. McCoy argues that his

dogfighting conviction is based on insufficient evidence and is against the manifest weight of the

evidence. Because Mr. McCoy has addressed the two arguments together in his brief, we

likewise consolidate them for purposes of our discussion. For the reasons that follow, we reject

Mr. McCoy’s arguments.

{¶6} Under Criminal Rule 29(A), a defendant is entitled to a judgment of acquittal on a

charge against him “if the evidence is insufficient to sustain a conviction * * *.” 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). In making this determination, we must view

the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution:

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 3

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.

{¶7} If, on the other hand, a defendant asserts that a conviction is against the manifest

weight of the evidence,

an appellate court must review the entire record, weigh the evidence and all reasonable inferences, consider the credibility of witnesses and determine whether, in resolving conflicts in the evidence, the trier of fact clearly lost its way and created such a manifest miscarriage of justice that the conviction must be reversed and a new trial ordered.

State v. Otten, 33 Ohio App.3d 339, 340 (9th Dist.1986). Weight of the evidence pertains to the

greater amount of credible evidence produced in a trial to support one side over the other side.

Thompkins at 387. An appellate court should only exercise its power to reverse a judgment as

against the manifest weight of the evidence in exceptional cases. State v. Carson, 9th Dist.

Summit No. 26900, 2013-Ohio-5785, ¶ 32, citing Otten at 340.

{¶8} Revised Code Section 959.16(A)(5) provides that “[n]o person shall knowingly *

* * [p]ay money or give anything else of value in exchange for admission to or be present at a

dogfight.” This Court recently examined the foregoing statute and found it to be ambiguous.

See State v. Taylor, 9th Dist. Summit No. 28091, 2016-Ohio-7953. We, therefore, conducted a

statutory analysis and determined that Section 959.16(A)(5)’s legislative history supports a

disjunctive reading of the statute. Id. at ¶ 12-15. We held that, to support a conviction under

Section 959.16(A)(5), the State may prove either that a person (1) knowingly paid money or

gave something of value for admission to a dogfight, or (2) knowingly was present at a dogfight.

Id. at ¶ 15. Under former Revised Code Section 2901.22(B), “[a] person acts knowingly, 4

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.”

{¶9} Captain Clark Westfall testified that he helped organize a raid at a home in Akron,

where the police suspected that the owner was conducting a dogfighting operation. As part of its

case-in-chief, the State introduced several pictures of the target residence, two of which are aerial

map views. The pictures show that the home is located at the end of a dead-end street and has a

sizeable backyard that abuts a noise barrier for the freeway. The backyard contains a detached

garage as well as a freestanding trailer. The front of the home faces west, and the entire

backyard is enclosed by a fence. The fence joins to the house on the house’s north and south

sides such that the fence traverses the driveway for the residence. The portion of the fence that

traverses the driveway and connects with the south side of the house is a large, retractable gate.

{¶10} Captain Westfall testified that multiple law enforcement agencies took positions

around the target residence a few hours before the raid and conducted surveillance as numerous

people entered the fenced-in backyard. Meanwhile, an armored vehicle was waiting at a nearby

facility for Captain Westfall’s command. Once the gate to the property closed, he signaled for

the armored vehicle, which breached the retractable gate at 10:41 p.m. Captain Westfall testified

that, from the point in time that the retractable gate closed until the armored vehicle arrived to

breach it, roughly twelve minutes elapsed. During that time, other officers conducted

surveillance to ensure that no one was walking on the street outside the residence or leaving the

residence. Captain Westfall testified that, once the gate was breached, the scene became the

“most chaotic” he had ever seen with people “running, screaming, throwing money, [and] trying 5

to knock down the fencing to get out.” A total of 52 law enforcement officers ultimately

responded to the scene that evening, and 47 individuals were arrested.

{¶11} Detective Mark Hockman conducted surveillance from a nearby location during

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