State v. Tsibouris

2014 Ohio 2612
Ohio Court of Appeals·Decided June 18, 2014·No. C-120414 C-120415·Published·Cited by 9 cases

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS

FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT OF OHIO HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO

STATE OF OHIO, : APPEAL NOS. C-120414 C-120415

Plaintiff-Appellant, : TRIAL NOS. C-11CRB-37372A&B

vs. :

O P I N I O N.

DENISE TSIBOURIS, :

Defendant-Appellee. :

Criminal Appeals From: Hamilton County Municipal Court

Judgments Appealed From Are: Affirmed in Part, Reversed in Part, and Cause Remanded

Date of Judgment Entry on Appeal: June 18, 2014

Joseph T. Deters, Hamilton County Prosecuting Attorney, and Paula Adams, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for Plaintiff-Appellant,

William F. Oswall, Jr., for Defendant-Appellee.

Please note: this case has been removed from the accelerated calendar.

F ISCHER , Judge.

{¶1} Defendant-appellee Denise Tsibouris appeals her convictions for resisting arrest, a second-degree misdemeanor, and disorderly conduct, a fourth- degree misdemeanor, following a jury trial. The jury acquitted her of menacing.

{¶2} On appeal, she argues that (1) the trial court committed plain error in instructing the jury on resisting arrest; (2) the court committed plain error in convicting and sentencing her for fourth-degree-misdemeanor disorderly conduct when the jury instructions and verdict form did not reference the aggravating elements necessary to elevate the offense to a fourth-degree misdemeanor; and (3) her trial counsel was ineffective for failing to object to these errors and to the admission of prejudical testimony.

{¶3} We conclude that the trial court erred as a matter of law in convicting and sentencing Tsibouris for fourth-degree-misdemeanor disorderly conduct, when the jury instructions and verdict form only referenced minor- misdemeanor disorderly conduct. We affirm the trial court’s judgments in all other respects.

The Jury Trial

{¶4} At trial, the state presented the following evidence. On December 1, 2011, Colerain Township Police Sergeant Scott Owen was working as part of a robbery task force. He was dressed in plainclothes and patrolling neighborhoods in an unmarked car with Detective Hendricks, when he observed what he thought was an unoccupied car on Niagara Street parked behind a marked patrol car. When the car’s lights suddenly came on and the car made a U-turn, Sergeant Owen followed the car and radioed in the license plate number. Upon learning that the license plate had a warrant for menacing attached to it, he radioed for a uniformed officer to make

a traffic stop. But before that could happen, the car pulled into the parking lot of a Kroger store on Colerain Avenue. The driver exited from the vehicle and walked into the store.

{¶5} Sergeant Owen saw Officer Stockmeier, who just happened to be driving through the parking lot on his regular patrol, and asked Officer Stockmeier to assist him in stopping the driver, who was entering the store. As the three officers entered the Kroger store, they ran into Officer Hussel, who was in uniform working an off-duty detail. Together, they approached the driver in front of the customer service desk. Sergeant Owen asked the driver if her name was “Denise.” She asked Sergeant Owen, “Why do you want to know?”

{¶6} He explained that the vehicle from which she had just exited had a menacing warrant attached to it for a person named “Denise.” She eventually said, “yes” that her name was Denise, and she even told the officer how to pronounce her last name―Tsibouris. Sergeant Owen explained to her that they needed to go out to Officer Stockmeier’s patrol car. She told the officers that she was not going outside with them.

{¶7} Officer Stockmeier then placed handcuffs on Tsibouris. As the officers were escorting her out of the store, Tsibouris began screaming for help and shouting racial slurs at the officers. They called for a female officer from Mount Healthy to come to the scene to search Tsibouris. As they waited by the police car for the female officer to arrive, Tsibouris continued to scream and yell. Sergeant Owen and Officer Stockmeier told her repeatedly to calm down, and explained that it was only a misdemeanor warrant, but Tsibouris continued to scream and call the officers names.

{¶8} When a crowd of people began forming in the parking lot, the officers attempted to put Tsibouris inside the police cruiser. Tsibouris refused to get inside the cruiser despite being told several times that she was under arrest. Once the officers got her onto the back seat, she would not slide across the seat, so Sergeant Owen had to eventually pull her through. Inside the cruiser, Tsibouris continued to scream and yell racial slurs at the officers, and she kicked the window.

{¶9} Tsibouris, while handcuffed, took her right hand and put it into her right front pocket. The officers testified that they had to get Tsibouris out of the cruiser because they did not know what was in her hand. Tsibouris, however, refused to get out of the cruiser and resisted all of the officers’ commands to open her hand. So Sergeant Owen reached in to pull Tsibouris out of the vehicle. She kicked him in the chest. Officer Stockmeier then sprayed mace at her, and the officers were able to pull her out of the vehicle. Sergeant Owen then pried her hand open, but there was nothing in it.

{¶10} Around this time, Officer Jamie Byrd arrived from Mount Healthy and searched Tsibouris. Tsibouris began complaining of the effects of the mace and was yelling profanities, despite Officer Byrd’s requests that she calm down. Tsibouris then started complaining of chest pains. The life squad, which had already been called, tried to examine Tsibouris, but her behavior was so disruptive that it was difficult for the life squad to do its job. Officer Stockmeier subsequently transported Tsibouris to the hospital where she was treated and released. He then took her to the Hamilton County Justice Center.

{¶11} Tsibouris testified that while she was shopping at Kroger, she was approached by two men in plainclothes, who questioned her about her identity. The men told Tsibouris that they had a warrant for her arrest, and she should put her

hands behind her back. She complied and was handcuffed. According to Tsibouris, the officers then walked her out of the store, placed her against the police cruiser, and vigorously frisked her. While she was in the police cruiser, she heard various police officers at the scene begin to yell. They rushed the car where she was located and threw open the doors while continuing to yell. She was scared, so she started yelling and screaming for them to leave her alone as she tried to get over in the corner of the vehicle. The officers maced her and pulled her out of the car to the ground. The officers stepped on her neck and back. Her eyes, chest, and throat were burning. Tsibouris felt that she had been assaulted. She began screaming for help. Her chest started hurting and she requested an ambulance. When the ambulance arrived, the officers took her out of the car and another female officer frisked her. She was very upset because she had already been frisked. She was put into the ambulance, and given towels so she could spit out the mace. She was then transported to the hospital and the Justice Center.

Jury Verdict and Sentence

{¶12} The jury found Tsibouris guilty of resisting arrest and disorderly conduct, but not guilty of menacing. At the conclusion of her jury trial on May 7, 2012, the trial court ordered that Tsibouris be held in jail without bond pending sentencing. On May 18, 2012, the trial court sentenced Tsibouris to 90 days in jail for resisting arrest and 30 days for disorderly conduct. The trial court ordered the sentences to be served concurrently, and credited Tsibouris with the ten days she had already served in jail. The trial court also ordered Tsibouris to pay a jury fee of $351.

{¶13} During the time that she was being held in jail pending sentencing, Tsibouris filed a motion to stay her sentence in conjunction with her notice of appeal.

Following her sentencing hearing, however, Tsibouris withdrew the motion to stay her sentence.

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State v. Tsibouris, 2014 Ohio 2612 (Ohio Ct. App. 2014).

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