State v. Ell, 2023 Ohio 4583

Jeffrey David Ell was indicted for second-degree felony felonious assault, alleging he beat and injured his girlfriend's sister, causing her to lose consciousness and sustain severe bruising.
The incident involved an alleged brutal physical altercation resulting in serious injuries, including unconsciousness and facial bruising to the victim.
At trial, testimony was presented from three witnesses: the victim, the victim’s sister (Ell’s girlfriend), and another witness.
The jury found Ell guilty, and he was sentenced to 11–15 years in prison, plus a mandatory postrelease control term.
Ell challenged his conviction on appeal, arguing it was against the manifest weight and sufficiency of the evidence.
The appellate court reviewed the challenge but affirmed the conviction, finding the jury acted within its discretion in crediting the victim’s testimony.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Ell’s conviction is against the manifest weight of the evidence	Evidence supports conviction	Victim’s sister testified in Ell’s favor	Conviction not against manifest weight
Sufficiency of evidence for felonious assault	Victim’s testimony sufficient	Testimony not credible, no corroboration	Testimony alone is sufficient
Credibility of witnesses as basis for verdict	Jury properly weighed evidence	Sister’s account more reliable	Credibility is for jury to decide
Serious physical harm (statutory interpretation)	Physical harm meets standard	No serious harm was proven	Evidence showed serious physical harm

State v. DeHass, 10 Ohio St.2d 230 (jury as the primary determiner of witness credibility)
State v. Gibbs, 134 Ohio App.3d 247 (standard for manifest weight review)
State v. Clinton, 153 Ohio St.3d 422 (sufficiency challenges enact due process concerns)
State v. Wilks, 154 Ohio St.3d 359 (appellate review of manifest weight entails full review of record)