State v. Magee, 158 N.E.3d 630

Around 2:00 a.m. on Oct. 23, 2018, Christopher Magee broke the front door of Park National Bank, entered, and was seen rummaging through teller desks and the bank interior on surveillance footage.
Union Township officers arrived, announced their presence, and Magee fled to the bank basement, ignored warnings that a K‑9 would be released, and did not surrender.
Officers released a K‑9; Magee emerged lunging on all fours, making noises, wielding a flashlight and a box cutter; a scuffle ensued during which the K‑9 bit Magee and later bit Officer Disbennett, who required stitches.
Magee was indicted on multiple counts, pleaded not guilty and NGRI, underwent two psychiatric evaluations (both finding competency), and the trial court granted the State’s motion in limine barring diminished‑capacity evidence absent a renewed, outside‑the‑jury request.
At trial Magee presented no witness or expert testimony on his mental state, did not request an NGRI instruction, was convicted on all counts (several merged), and was sentenced to an aggregate 16‑year prison term.
On appeal Magee argued (1) the court erred by excluding NGRI/diminished‑capacity evidence, and (2–3) convictions for felonious assault (Count 3) and attempted safecracking (Count 6) were not supported by sufficient/weighty evidence.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (State)	Defendant's Argument (Magee)	Held
Trial court erred by excluding evidence supporting Magee's NGRI plea	State: motion in limine properly barred diminished‑capacity evidence; NGRI not proved so exclusion proper	Magee: NGRI plea was never withdrawn so evidence/instruction should have been allowed	Court: No error — Magee failed to present any evidence to support NGRI or request an NGRI instruction; in limine order was not final and Magee never sought to revisit it
Sufficiency/weight as to felonious assault (causation)	State: Magee’s flight, refusal to surrender, armed lunge, and violent resistance foreseeably set in motion events that caused officer injury	Magee: K‑9 attacking an officer was unforeseeable; he could not foresee the dog would bite an officer	Court: Guilty upheld — Magee’s conduct was a natural and foreseeable cause of the officer’s injury; jury did not lose its way
Sufficiency/weight as to attempted safecracking (tampering ATM)	State: surveillance shows Magee prying/hitting at ATM with a thin metal object and later entering bank and breaking doors—evidence of attempt to tamper	Magee: footage only shows a gesture toward the ATM, no proof of tampering or damage	Court: Guilty upheld — video plus context (no legitimate transaction, later forcible entry) supported a reasonable finding of attempted tampering

State v. Monford, 190 Ohio App.3d 35 (standard for when insanity instruction is required)
State v. Cihonski, 178 Ohio App.3d 713 (structural‑error rule when NGRI properly raised at trial)
State v. Jenks, 61 Ohio St.3d 259 (standard for sufficiency review)
State v. Conway, 108 Ohio St.3d 214 (defendant presumed to intend natural, probable consequences of voluntary acts)
State v. Johnson, 56 Ohio St.2d 35 (authority for presumption that actor intends natural consequences)