Winning on appeal is not easy. But one way to get your conviction reversed after a jury trial is to find a problem with the jury instructions. That is what happened in State v. Fine, 2010-Ohio-2637, out of Miami County. To put it simply, the State had to prove A + B + C to convict the defendant. But the judge messed up the jury instruction once and told the jury that they "must" find the defendant guilty if the State proved A OR B OR C. The Second District Court of Appeals wrote, "[b]y instructing the jury the way it did, the trial court relieved the State of its burden to prove the requisite three elements contained in Section 304.7, instead allowing a conviction if the jury found just one of the three elements proved. This is error that prejudiced Defendant, and is therefore reversible."
The jury instructions in your case (if you had a jury trial) are one of the things I will be looking at very closely if I am your lawyer on appeal. Read the decision in State v. Fine by clicking here or contact me by clicking here.
