State v. Wheeler

2016 Ohio 15
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 6, 2016
Docket27643
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 2016 Ohio 15 (State v. Wheeler) 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. Wheeler, 2016 Ohio 15 (Ohio Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

[Cite as State v. Wheeler, 2016-Ohio-15.]

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

STATE OF OHIO C.A. No. 27643

Appellee

v. APPEAL FROM JUDGMENT ENTERED IN THE LESLIE A. WHEELER COURT OF COMMON PLEAS COUNTY OF SUMMIT, OHIO Appellant CASE No. CR 2014 09 2785 (B)

DECISION AND JOURNAL ENTRY

Dated: January 6, 2016

MOORE, Judge.

{¶1} Appellant, Leslie Wheeler, appeals his convictions by the Summit County Court

of Common Pleas. This Court affirms.

I.

{¶2} On September 13, 2014, Akron Police Officer David Crockett noticed a vehicle

traveling westbound on Interstate 76 at eighty-five miles per hour. After verifying that the

vehicle had been reported stolen, Officer Crockett requested assistance. He activated his lights

and sirens and pursued the vehicle alone. When the driver exited the highway but maintained a

high rate of speed on Inman Street, Officer Crockett pursued the car until the driver crashed into

a tree. The passenger fled on foot behind some nearby apartments, but police officers

apprehended the driver as he fled in another direction. The driver identified Mr. Wheeler to

police as the other person in the vehicle. 2

{¶3} Mr. Wheeler was charged with having weapons while under disability in violation

of R.C. 2923.13(A)(2) and (A)(3), obstructing official business in violation of R.C. 2921.31(A),

and improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle in violation of R.C. 2923.16(B). During

Mr. Wheeler’s trial, the State introduced a security video that depicted the robbery of a gas

station that occurred not long before the chase at issue in this case. The trial court permitted the

State to play the video over Mr. Wheeler’s objection, but provided a limiting instruction to the

jury before the footage was played and during jury instructions.

{¶4} The trial court granted Mr. Wheeler’s motion for judgment of acquittal on the

charge of improperly handling firearms at the close of the State’s case. A jury found Mr.

Wheeler guilty of the remaining charges, and the trial court sentenced him to concurrent prison

terms totaling thirty-six months to be served consecutively to the sentence imposed in a different

case. Mr. Wheeler appealed. We have rearranged his six assignments of error for ease of

review.

II.

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR V

THE TRIAL COURT ABUSED ITS DISCRETION AND COMMITTED PREJUDICIAL ERROR WHEN THE TRIAL COURT PERMITTED THE STATE TO SHOW THE JURY A VIDEO OF AN ALLEGED ROBBERY OF A GAS STATION THAT OCCURRED IN PORTAGE COUNTY.

{¶5} In his fifth assignment of error, Mr. Wheeler has argued that the trial court erred

by admitting video footage of a robbery that was not at issue in this case because, according to

Mr. Wheeler, the potential for prejudice substantially outweighed the probative value of the

video in demonstrating identity. Mr. Wheeler has also argued that the trial court’s limiting

instruction was not sufficient to alleviate the prejudice caused by the video. We disagree. 3

{¶6} Under Evid.R. 404(B), evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts of the defendant

is not admissible to prove that the defendant acted in conformity with the character demonstrated

by the other acts, but other acts evidence may be admissible for different purposes. The Rule

specifies, for example, that other acts evidence may be admitted for purposes “such as proof of

motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake or

accident.” Evid.R. 404(B). The admission of other acts evidence is a three-step process:

The first step is to consider whether the other acts evidence is relevant to making any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more or less probable than it would be without the evidence. Evid.R. 401. The next step is to consider whether evidence of the other crimes, wrongs, or acts is presented to prove the character of the accused in order to show activity in conformity therewith or whether the other acts evidence is presented for a legitimate purpose, such as those stated in Evid.R. 404(B). The third step is to consider whether the probative value of the other acts evidence is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice.

State v. Williams, 134 Ohio St.3d 521, 2012-Ohio-5695, ¶ 20.

{¶7} When an appellant challenges the admission of other acts evidence, we review the

trial court’s decision for an abuse of discretion. State v. Morris, 132 Ohio St.3d 337, 2012-Ohio-

2407, syllabus. Under this “deferential” standard, “[i]t is not sufficient for an appellate court to

determine that a trial court abused its discretion simply because the appellate court might not

have reached the same conclusion or is, itself, less persuaded by the trial court’s reasoning

process than by the countervailing arguments.” Id. at ¶ 14. Instead, we consider whether the

trial court’s decision lacked a “sound reasoning process.” Id., quoting AAAA Ents. v. River Place

Community Urban Redevelopment Corp., 50 Ohio St.3d 157, 161 (1990).

{¶8} Mr. Wheeler has not argued that the surveillance video was irrelevant or that it

was offered for a purpose other than those permitted by Evid.R. 404(B), but he has argued that

the probative value of the video footage is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair 4

prejudice to him that could result. A limiting instruction serves to minimize the likelihood that

evidence of other acts will result in undue prejudice. State v. Jones, 135 Ohio St.3d 10, 2012-

Ohio-5677, ¶ 194. When a trial court provides a limiting instruction in connection with the

admission of other acts evidence, this Court presumes that the jury followed the instruction.

Williams at ¶ 23.

{¶9} In this case, Officer Crockett identified a stolen vehicle driving west on Interstate

76 at a high rate of speed and pursued that vehicle until it crashed into a tree. A black and silver

gun and latex gloves were found in the car, and police also found a pack of Newport cigarettes

nearby. Officer Ashley Freed, who responded at the scene of the crash, confirmed that a gas

station located near Interstate 76 to the east had been robbed close to the time of the chase.

Corvel Benson testified that he had been the driver of the car at issue, explained that he had

driven the car from the scene of the gas station robbery, and identified Mr. Wheeler as the person

who went into the gas station and the passenger in the vehicle at the time of the crash. In this

context, the surveillance video depicts an individual that matches the general description of Mr.

Wheeler wearing latex gloves and brandishing a black and silver gun, thus tending to identify

Mr. Wheeler as the passenger who fled the car after the crash and eluded capture. Officer

Crockett acknowledged that Mr. Wheeler and Mr. Benson are similar in appearance, but testified

that he could identify Mr. Wheeler from the video.

{¶10} The trial court offered a limiting instruction before the surveillance video was

played:

Ladies and gentlemen, you are about to view a video of a criminal act that took place in another jurisdiction. This evidence is being shown to you in this case for a limited purpose, by the State, that purpose being identification. 5

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2016 Ohio 15, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-wheeler-ohioctapp-2016.