State v. Villafranco, 2022 Ohio 2826

Villafranco was indicted for felonious assault under R.C. 2903.11(A)(2) after ramming the victim's car with his van during a road‑rage incident; the van was treated as a deadly weapon.
Trial evidence showed Villafranco boxed the victim, exited his van aggressively, then caught up and rammed the victim's vehicle twice, disabling it; witnesses followed and police arrested him.
After the state rested, Villafranco requested a jury instruction on "attempted" vehicular assault (combining R.C. 2903.08(A)(2)(b) with the attempt statute R.C. 2923.02) as a lesser included offense; the court denied the request.
The jury convicted Villafranco of felonious assault; he appealed arguing the court abused its discretion by refusing the attempted‑vehicular‑assault instruction.
The appellate court examined whether "attempted vehicular assault" is a cognizable offense and whether vehicular assault is a lesser included offense of felonious assault.
The court held that "attempted vehicular assault" is not cognizable because attempt requires purpose/knowledge while vehicular assault requires recklessness; thus the trial court properly denied the instruction and the conviction was affirmed.

Issue	State's Argument	Villafranco's Argument	Held
Whether the trial court erred by refusing a jury instruction on "attempted" vehicular assault as a lesser included offense of felonious assault	"Attempted" vehicular assault is a legal impossibility because the attempt statute requires purpose/knowledge, which cannot apply to an offense defined by recklessness	The attempt statute combined with vehicular assault creates a lesser, appropriate offense matching the facts (attempted vehicular assault) and the jury should have been instructed	The court held attempted vehicular assault is not a cognizable offense (mens rea mismatch); vehicular assault is not a lesser included offense of felonious assault under the third‑prong test; denial of instruction was not an abuse of discretion

State v. Wolons, 44 Ohio St.3d 64 (1989) (trial court's decision on jury instructions reviewed for abuse of discretion)
State v. Adams, 62 Ohio St.2d 151 (1980) (definition of abuse of discretion)
State v. Evans, 122 Ohio St.3d 381 (2009) (three‑part test for determining lesser included offenses)