State v. Shouse

2015 Ohio 3918
Ohio Court of Appeals·Decided September 25, 2015·No. 26172·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT MONTGOMERY COUNTY

STATE OF OHIO :

:

Plaintiff-Appellee : Appellate Case No. 26172 :

v. : Trial Court Case No. 2013-CR-2901 :

RODNEY SHOUSE : (Criminal Appeal from : Common Pleas Court)

Defendant-Appellant :

:

...........

OPINION

Rendered on the 25th day of September, 2015.

...........

MATHIAS H. HECK, JR., by CHRISTINA E. MAHY, Atty. Reg. No. 0092671, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office, Appellate Division, Montgomery County Courts Building, 301 West Third Street, Dayton, Ohio 45422 Attorney for Plaintiff-Appellee

MARSHALL G. LACHMAN, Atty. Reg. No. 0076791, 75 North Pioneer Boulevard, Springboro, Ohio 45066 Attorney for Defendant-Appellant

.............

WELBAUM, J.

{¶ 1} Defendant-appellant, Rodney Shouse, appeals from the conviction and sentence he received in the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas after he was found guilty of burglary following a bench trial. Specifically, Shouse challenges the legal sufficiency and manifest weight of the evidence with respect to the trespass element of burglary. In addition, Shouse challenges the trial court’s decision to impose an additional 838 days of prison time consecutive to the three-year prison sentence he received for burglary as a result of violating his post-release control sanctions. For the reasons outlined below, the judgment of the trial court will be affirmed, but the matter will be remanded for the limited purpose of allowing the trial court to issue a nunc pro tunc entry to correct a clerical error in its sentencing entry.

Facts and Course of Proceedings

{¶ 2} On October 8, 2013, Shouse was indicted on one count of burglary in violation of R.C. 2911.12(A)(1), a felony of the second degree, with an underlying offense of aggravated menacing and/or disorderly conduct. The charge stemmed from a September 11, 2013 altercation between Shouse and his neighbor, Cindy Mixon. Shouse pled not guilty to the burglary charge and the matter proceeded to a bench trial. At trial, the State presented testimony from Mixon; Mixon’s neighbor, Nevin Smith; and the investigating police officer, Nathan Speelman. The defense presented testimony from Shouse’s fiancé, Melissa Smart.

{¶ 3} It is undisputed that Mixon and her children have resided at 358 Kenwood Avenue in Dayton, Ohio since June 2013. The residence is a duplex owned by Jeff Acre,

to whom Mixon and other tenants pay rent. Mixon’s side of the property is a single occupancy, whereas the other side, 356 Kenwood Avenue, houses multiple tenants who rent rooms and share common areas. It is undisputed that sometime prior to September 2013, Shouse and his fiancé, Smart, entered into a month-to-month lease for one of the rooms inside 356 Kenwood Avenue.

{¶ 4} At trial, Mixon testified that she would sometimes collect rent for Acre when he was unavailable; however, Mixon claimed this was a rare occurrence. Mixon also testified that she would relay complaints to Acre if tenants were unable to contact him, as well as show prospective tenants the available rooms for rent inside the property. According to Mixon, she showed Smart the room that Smart and Shouse eventually rented, and had them fill out a lease agreement, which she later gave to Acre. Despite assisting Acre with his rental business, Mixon testified that her side of the property was not a business, but her home, and that the other tenants had to knock on her door if they wanted to speak to her. Mixon also denied allowing Shouse to enter her home as he pleased or giving Shouse a key to her property.

{¶ 5} As for the burglary, Mixon testified that she was inside her home during the early evening hours of September 11, 2013, when she heard Shouse yelling and screaming obscenities at her from the backyard. After hearing Shouse’s outburst, Mixon testified that she looked out her window and saw Shouse walking toward the front of the property. As Shouse walked around the property, Mixon testified that he continued threatening her and yelling for her come outside. Specifically, Mixon heard Shouse state that “[h]e was going to whoop [her] ass.” Trial Trans. (Mar. 17, 2014), p. 56. According to Mixon, Shouse was threatening her because she had called the police a few days

earlier due to Shouse and Smart constantly fighting with each other.

{¶ 6} When Shouse reached the front of the property, Mixon testified that he went to her side of the porch, opened her screen door, and began banging on her locked inner door and jiggling the door knob. During this time, Mixon was in a late stage of pregnancy and babysitting Acre’s two-year-old daughter. Mixon testified that she was concerned about her safety and the safety of Acre’s daughter, so she called 9-1-1 for assistance and reported Shouse’s behavior, noting that he appeared intoxicated. After speaking with the police, Mixon informed Shouse that she had called 9-1-1.

{¶ 7} Continuing, Mixon testified that Shouse eventually went to his side of the property, sat on the front porch, and drank from a six-pack of beer. While Shouse was sitting on the porch drinking, Mixon testified that he continued yelling threats at her, as well as yelling at people walking by, challenging them to fight. Mixon then testified that Shouse began pounding on her door again and yelled “I’m going to kill you.” Id. at 58, 61. Frightened, Mixon testified that she called 9-1-1 a second time and told Shouse to go away. However, Mixon claimed that instead of leaving, Shouse continued to bang on her door so hard that the door opened.

{¶ 8} Once the door opened, Mixon testified that Shouse stepped through the doorway into her living room. According to Mixon, Shouse then began yelling in her face saying “I’m going to beat your ass. Teach you to call the police on me.” Trial Trans. (Mar. 17, 2014), p. 66. In response, Mixon told Shouse to get out of her house and pushed the door shut, forcing him out and locking the door behind him. Thereafter, Mixon claimed that Shouse remained on the front porch until approximately ten minutes before the police arrived some two hours later.

{¶ 9} Nevin Smith, a resident of 356 Kenwood Avenue, testified that Shouse was one of the tenants on his side of the duplex and that Shouse was drinking heavily on the day in question. Smith also testified that on the same day, he heard a male voice shouting loudly from the front of the property while he was inside taking a shower. Specifically, Smith heard the voice threaten to kill Mixon.

{¶ 10} After hearing the shouting, Smith testified that he went outside to Mixon’s side of the property and observed Mixon frightened and in tears. According to Smith, Mixon told him that Shouse had broken into her home and threatened Acre’s daughter. Smith claimed that when the police arrived approximately two hours later, he assisted the officers in locating Shouse inside their shared portion of the duplex. Smith testified that Shouse was intoxicated when the police made contact with him.

{¶ 11} Smith further testified that he never paid rent to Mixon nor raised any complaints with her regarding the duplex. He claimed that Mixon was just another tenant, whereas Acre was the sole party responsible for the property. However, Smith testified that he had seen Mixon take prospective tenants through the property for Acre.

{¶ 12} Officer Nathan Speelman of the Dayton Police Department testified that on September 11, 2013, he was dispatched to 358 Kenwood Avenue where he encountered Smith and Mixon. Upon his arrival, Speelman testified that Smith approached him and spoke to him about what had occurred. Thereafter, Speelman testified that he spoke with Mixon and noted that she appeared very distraught. Speelman further testified that he examined Mixon’s doorframe and found it plausible that the door had been forced open in the manner Mixon had described.

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State v. Shouse, 2015 Ohio 3918 (Ohio Ct. App. 2015).

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