State v. Chopak, 2012 Ohio 1537

Chopak was indicted in 2010 for ethnic intimidation (a fifth-degree felony) and aggravated menacing (a first-degree misdemeanor) after a bench trial.
The dispute arose between Chopak’s back-lot residence and Fuller’s front-lot residence on Daisy Avenue, with a six-foot chain-link fence separating the properties.
Fuller, her two children, and Aloysa Ferro interacted with Chopak during a May 16, 2010 encounter that escalated from verbal taunting to physical threats.
Chopak testified he pulled a knife in response to being threatened and to fear of four unseen African-American males, while Fuller and others denied seeing any additional males in the yard.
The trial court found Chopak guilty of both counts, sentenced him to community control for ethnic intimidation and time served for aggravated menacing; on appeal, the ethnic intimidation conviction was reversed, and self-defense was rejected, leading to remand for vacatur of the ethnic-intimidation conviction.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the aggravated menacing conviction is supported by sufficient evidence	Chopak	Chopak	Conviction sustained on sufficiency and weight
Whether the ethnic intimidation conviction was supported by a racially motivated threat	State	Chopak	Ethnic intimidation conviction reversed for lack of racially motivated evidence
Whether self-defense negates the aggravated menacing conviction	State	Chopak	Crim.R.29 denial affirmed; self-defense rejected

State v. Thompkins, 78 Ohio St.3d 380 (Ohio 1997) (discusses sufficiency standard (beyond a reasonable doubt))
State v. Ludt, 180 Ohio App.3d 672 (Ohio App.3d 2009) (self-defense burden and criteria for imminent danger)
State v. Charlton, 2007-Ohio-2051 (11th Dist. 2007) (interpretation of threats and imminence in aggravated menacing)
State v. Kingery, 2012-Ohio-505 (2d Dist. 2012) (relevance of racial motivation in ethnic intimidation)