State v. Makin, 2017 Ohio 7882

In May 2016 a Fugitive Task Force attempted to arrest Hakeen Makin on a warrant; officers in multiple vehicles surrounded his car on Noble Road and used lights/sirens to signal him to stop.
Makin drove onto the tree lawn, collided with a detective’s vehicle, briefly stalled, then restarted and fled, colliding with a vehicle driven by a Deputy U.S. Marshal and striking other vehicles during a multi-vehicle pursuit that ended on Interstate 90.
A jury convicted Makin of one count of failure to comply with a police signal (R.C. 2921.331) and three counts of felonious assault of a peace officer (R.C. 2903.11(A)(2)); four felonious-assault counts were acquitted.
The trial court sentenced Makin to an aggregate eight-year prison term (concurrent five-year counts for felonious assault, consecutive three-year sentence for failure to comply) and ordered court costs.
Makin appealed raising six assignments of error: denial of self-representation, denial of continuance to secure a defense witness, insufficiency and manifest weight challenges to convictions, ineffective assistance of counsel, and improper imposition of court costs without required notice.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Right to self-representation	Court complied with constitutional requirements and offered a colloquy/hearing opportunity	Trial court denied right to proceed pro se by not affording the promised hearing	Court: No denial — court advised Makin, set hearing contingent on his request, he did not pursue it; assignment overruled
Continuance to secure witness (Robertson)	Denial was proper because testimony would have been cumulative and defendant did not show substantial favorable evidence	Counsel requested continuance to subpoena Robertson and an expert; subpoenas were issued late	Court: No abuse of discretion — defendant failed to show proffered testimony would be substantially favorable; assignment overruled
Sufficiency of evidence for felonious assault & failure to comply	State: evidence showed Makin knowingly used his vehicle to cause physical harm to officers and willfully fled after police signals	Makin contends collisions were inadvertent and he was only trying to escape capture; evidence insufficient	Court: Evidence sufficient when viewed for the prosecution — convictions affirmed
Manifest weight of evidence	State: officer testimony was credible and supported convictions	Makin: jury lost its way; no certainty vehicle was used as a deadly weapon	Court: Jury credibility determinations upheld; not an exceptional case warranting reversal

State v. Martin, 103 Ohio St.3d 385 (2004) (defendant’s right to self-representation requires a voluntary, knowing, and intelligent waiver)
State v. Diar, 120 Ohio St.3d 460 (2008) (standard for sufficiency: whether a rational trier of fact could find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt)
State v. Thompkins, 78 Ohio St.3d 380 (1997) (distinction between sufficiency and manifest weight review)
State v. Jenks, 61 Ohio St.3d 259 (1991) (Jackson v. Virginia standard adopted for sufficiency review)
Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (1979) (sufficiency inquiry standard for criminal convictions)
Blakemore v. Blakemore, 5 Ohio St.3d 217 (1983) (abuse of discretion standard described)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984) (two-prong test for ineffective assistance of counsel)
Tibbs v. Florida, 457 U.S. 31 (1982) (appellate court acting as thirteenth juror in manifest-weight review)
Seasons Coal Co. v. Cleveland, 10 Ohio St.3d 77 (1984) (deference to factfinder’s ability to judge witness credibility)
State v. Wilson, 113 Ohio St.3d 382 (2007) (framework for evaluating manifest weight challenges)