State v. Petefish, 2011 Ohio 6367

Appellant Joel Petefish was convicted of burglary (first-degree felony) and two counts of abduction (third-degree felonies) arising from a December 24, 2009 incident at his ex-wife Bette Merrick’s apartment.
Bette Merrick and her daughter Melissa testified that Petefish invaded the apartment, grabbed two knives, and prevented them from leaving while intoxicated and threatening them.
Petefish contends he had privileges to stay in the apartment and that the jury should not infer revocation of those privileges; the state argued revocation occurred when he refused to leave and menaced the victims.
A switchblade knife was found in Petefish’s possession, which the state argued qualified as a deadly weapon under R.C. 2911.11(A)(2).
The trial court denied motions for acquittal; a jury verdict of guilty on all counts was entered and Petefish was sentenced to life terms (consecutive for burglary and abduction counts).

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of evidence for burglary and abduction	Petefish failed to prove trespass, deadly weapon, and abduction elements	Evidence insufficient to prove elements beyond a reasonable doubt	Sufficient evidence supports convictions
Weight of the evidence supporting burglary and abduction	Weight favors State; testimony credible and consistent	Weight favors Petefish; testimony unreliable and self-serving	Convictions not against the manifest weight of the evidence

State v. Jenks, 61 Ohio St.3d 259 (1991) (establishes standard for sufficiency review)
State v. Thompkins, 78 Ohio St.3d 380 (1997) (weight of evidence and witness credibility considerations)
State v. DeHass, 10 Ohio St.2d 230 (1967) (control of credibility and weight rests with the trier of fact)
State v. Morton, 147 Ohio App.3d 43 (2002) (revocation of privilege and trespass analysis guidance)