State v. Shavers, 2016 Ohio 5561

Defendant Miquel Shavers was charged with two counts of aggravated menacing after allegedly threatening to shoot Krysta Hoskins and Dustin Chambers and brandishing what Hoskins believed was a gun.
Hoskins and Chambers lived with Chambers' sister Jitanna, who is Shavers' girlfriend and the mother of his children.
At a bench trial, Hoskins testified to receiving threatening texts and that Shavers threatened to "smoke" them, displayed something she believed to be a gun, and said the next one might be real.
Chambers testified similarly about the incident but said he was not afraid; Hoskins testified she was afraid and called police.
Jitanna and Shavers denied threats to Hoskins and denied seeing a gun; Shavers admitted threatening Chambers but denied threatening Hoskins or possessing a gun.
The trial court found Shavers not guilty as to Chambers but guilty of aggravated menacing as to Hoskins, sentenced him to a suspended 180-day jail term, fines, and community control; Shavers appealed arguing the conviction was against the manifest weight of the evidence.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Shavers' conviction for aggravated menacing as to Hoskins was against the manifest weight of the evidence	State: Hoskins' testimony was credible — threats by text and in person plus display of an object that appeared to be a gun caused apprehension	Shavers: Hoskins lied; any threats were only to Chambers, verbal only, and no gun was present	Court: Affirmed — trial court credited Hoskins; record does not show extraordinary circumstances requiring reversal

State v. Ludt, 180 Ohio App.3d 672 (2009) (aggravated menacing requires proof the victim was apprehensive or intimidated by the possibility of serious physical harm)