State v. Smith, Unpublished Decision (11-25-2002)
State v. Smith, Unpublished Decision (11-25-2002)
Opinion of the Court
¶ 2 Appellant and April Hall dated for a period of time around 1990 and 1991. On January 25, 1991, appellant was sentenced to prison on an unrelated matter. On August 11, 1991, Hall gave birth to Dustin Hall. On one occasion, Hall brought Dustin to see appellant in prison. On December 5, 1995, appellant was released from prison in Ohio and paroled to Kansas City, Missouri.
¶ 3 On March 3, 1997, the Warren County Child Support Enforcement Agency ("WCCSEA") filed a complaint to determine parentage against appellant in the Warren County Juvenile Court. Appellant did not respond to the service, so the WCCSEA moved for default judgment. On May 14, 1997, the juvenile court granted WCCSEA's motion for default judgment finding appellant was the father of Dustin Hall. The juvenile court also ordered appellant to pay $94.86 a month in child support. Appellant made no payments on this obligation and has an arrearage of $44,128.80 as of November 1, 2001.
¶ 4 On August 20, 2001, appellant was indicted for nonsupport of dependents in violation of R.C.
¶ 5 On February 5, 2002, the jury returned a verdict of guilty as to a violation of R.C.
Assignment of Error No. 1
¶ 6 Appellant maintains that the trial court improperly admitted the juvenile court May 14, 1997 default judgment into evidence. He also maintains that the court-ordered paternity test was improperly admitted into evidence. Appellant argues that he was materially prejudiced by the admittance of this evidence."APPELLANT WAS UNFAIRLY PREJUDICED BY THE USE OF EVI DENCE OBTAINED AFTER THE PERIOD OF TIME FOR WHICH APPELLANT WAS INDICTED AND BY THE ADMISSION OF A PRIOR DEFAULT JUDGMENT ORDERING CHILD SUPPORT."
¶ 7 The admission or exclusion of evidence is within the discretion of the trial court. State v. Sage (1987),
¶ 8 Appellant first argues that the admittance of the default judgment materially prejudiced him. Appellant maintains that the trial court improperly allowed a judgment in a civil action into evidence in order to establish an element of a criminal offense. Appellant contends that this admission is contrary to the rule established in State v.Parsley (1994),
¶ 14 There was ample evidence for a jury to find that appellant had reason to believe he was Dustin's father without the admittance of the paternity test. Appellant admitted to having a relationship with Hall. He testified that Hall brought Dustin to visit him in jail once. He further testified that he believed at this time that Dustin was his son. Appellant testified that he continued correspondence with Hall during his first few years in prison, writing to her that "we're going to make it through this little incident * * * I was going to get out, and we was going to be a family." Hall testified that appellant was Dustin's father. Finally, appellant testified that when he was released from prison in Ohio and had doubts as to Dustin's parentage, he "should have" tried to find out if Dustin was his son. The credibility of the witnesses is primarily for the trier of facts. State v. DeHass (1967),
¶ 15 Appellant maintains that the state provided no evidence of what constitutes adequate support. Therefore, he maintains that the trial court could not find him guilty pursuant to R.C."THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN OVERRULING APPELLANT'S RULE 29 MOTION REGARDING LACK OF ADEQUATE SUPPORT."
¶ 16 Pursuant to Crim.R. 29(A), acquittal should only be entered if the evidence is insufficient to sustain a conviction for the charged offense. "Whether the evidence is legally sufficient to sustain a verdict is a question of law." State v. Thompkins,
¶ 17 Appellant maintains that the state did not prove an essential element, "what is adequate support." Appellant confuses the elements required to find a person guilty for nonsupport of defendants. R.C.
¶ 18 Adequate support relates to what appellant is able to provide. Hall testified that she was having difficulty providing for Dustin's needs. She also testified that she was receiving public assistance. Appellant has admittedly never provided support to Dustin. Appellant is presumed to have the ability to support a child unless he raises his inability as an affirmative defense. State v. Garrison (June 26, 2000), Lawrence App. No. 99CS16. Appellant testified that he was in prison for seven out of ten years. Therefore, there was a period of time in which appellant could have provided support for Dustin. Under these circumstances, we find that no support is not adequate support. Accordingly, appellant's second assignment of error is overruled.
Assignment of Error No. 3
¶ 19 Appellant maintains that his conviction was against the manifest weight of the evidence. Specifically, appellant argues that he was not reckless in his failure to pay child support."THE JURY FINDING THAT APPELLANT WAS RECKLESS IS AGAINST THE MANIFEST WEIGHT OF THE EVIDENCE AND THE CONVICTION SHOULD BE REVERSED."
¶ 20 The standard the court follows for determining reversal for manifest weight of the evidence is summarized as, "[t]he 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 whether the jury clearly lost its way and created such a manifest miscarriage of justice that the conviction must be reversed and a new trial ordered. The discretionary power to grant a new trial should be exercised only in the exceptional case in which the evidence weighs heavily against the conviction." Statev. Thompkins,
¶ 21 The state had to prove that appellant recklessly failed to provide adequate support to his child to be found guilty of nonsupport of dependents in violation of R.C.
¶ 22 As stated earlier, appellant admitted to having a relationship with Hall. He testified that at first he believed Dustin was his son. Appellant further testified that he continued correspondence with Hall during his first few years in prison, writing to her that "we're going to make it through this little incident * * * I was going to get out, and we was going to be a family." Appellant admitted that although he later had doubts, he never tried to confirm Dustin's paternity. Moreover, appellant testified that after he got out of prison, "I wasn't even thinking about a kid."
¶ 23 After reviewing the record, we find that the jury did not lose its way in finding appellant guilty of not providing adequate support for his son. Accordingly, appellant's third assignment of error is overruled.
Judgment affirmed.
WALSH, P.J., and VALEN, J., concur.
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