State v. Joseph, 2017 Ohio 588

On March 5, 2016, David Joseph wrote a check for $1,056.71 at Pugh’s Designer Jewelers for a chain priced at $1,356.71; the clerk did not immediately notice the wrong amount.
Store personnel later contacted TrueCore Federal Credit Union and were told funds were insufficient; Joseph had opened a savings account on Feb 25, 2016 with a $5 deposit and had made no deposits to the linked checking account.
On the same day Joseph sold a gold rope chain matching the description of the purchased chain to Ohio Jewelry for $250 cash.
The checking account experienced multiple bounced checks and was closed March 11, 2016; the $5 deposit remained in savings.
Joseph was indicted for one count of passing a bad check (R.C. 2913.11(B)), tried by jury, convicted, and sentenced to one year imprisonment; he appealed alleging improper admission of other-acts evidence and insufficiency/manifest-weight error.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Admission of other-acts evidence under Evid. R. 404(B)	State: testimony about bounced checks and account history was admissible to show intent, knowledge, absence of mistake	Joseph: evidence of other bad acts and the Ohio Jewelry sale was prejudicial and barred by 404(B)	No plain error; account history and the sale were admissible to show intent/knowledge and were not improperly admitted as other-acts evidence
Sufficiency / manifest weight as to knowledge that the check would be dishonored	State: circumstantial evidence (no checking funds, earlier bounces, sale of chain same day) proved knowledge and intent to defraud without formal presentment/dishonor	Joseph: check was never formally presented/refused, so statutory presumption (R.C. 2913.11(C)) cannot apply and conviction is invalid	Conviction supported: presentment/dishonor not required to prove knowledge; circumstantial evidence sufficed; verdict not against manifest weight

State v. Brown, 38 Ohio St.3d 305 (1988) (motion in limine denial does not preserve evidentiary error absent contemporaneous objection)
State v. Long, 53 Ohio St.2d 91 (1978) (plain-error standard; relief only in exceptional circumstances)
State v. Thompkins, 78 Ohio St.3d 380 (1997) (appellate manifest-weight review described; court acts as thirteenth juror)
State v. Jenks, 61 Ohio St.3d 259 (1991) (sufficiency standard: evidence viewed in light most favorable to prosecution)
State v. Martin, 20 Ohio App.3d 172 (1983) (articulates manifest-weight test used by appellate courts)