State v. Leaver, 2011 Ohio 4068

Leaver and Deputy Conley fought in a holding cell after Leaver’s arrest for operating a vehicle while intoxicated.
Deputy Conley testified Leaver punched him after the door to the cell was opened; Leaver claimed Conley attacked him exiting the cell.
Leaver was charged with assault, obstructing official business, operating under the influence, possession of marijuana, and weaving; jurors convicted of assault, obstructing official business, and OUD; court sentenced Leaver to 18 months.
A key issue on appeal was whether the jury could hear the audio of a post-incident interview Leaver gave to Sergeant Paolino, which the court had only allowed the video muted.
The trial court admitted only the video without sound; the defense argued the audio was necessary to assess intoxication and credibility of witnesses.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the audio should have been played to the jury	Leaver	Leaver	Error sustained; audio should have been played for limited non-hearsay purpose
Harmless error analysis for the evidentiary ruling	Leaver shows substantial rights were affected	State	Not harmless; error affected substantial rights; reversible
Sufficiency of evidence for assault and obstructing official business	Leaver	Conley	Evidence sufficient to support convictions under applicable statutes
Remand following reversal of convictions	Leaver	State	Convictions reversed; remanded for proceedings consistent with opinion

Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (U.S. Supreme Court, 1984) (establishes prejudice standard for ineffective assistance of counsel)
Thompkins, 78 Ohio St.3d 380 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1997) (sufficiency standard on review; de novo analysis)
Jenks, 61 Ohio St.3d 259 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1991) (plain-error-free standard for sufficiency; 'proof beyond a reasonable doubt' framework)
State v. Davis, 44 Ohio App. 2d 335 (Ohio Appellate Court, 1975) (nonconstitutional error impact burden on defendant)