State v. Beard
| Docket Number | 112547 |
| Decision Date | 18 January 2024 |
| Citation | 2024 Ohio 161 |
| Parties | STATE OF OHIO, Plaintiff- Appellee, v. JASON D. BEARD, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | Ohio Court of Appeals |
1
2024-Ohio-161
STATE OF OHIO, Plaintiff- Appellee,
v.
JASON D. BEARD, Defendant-Appellant.
No. 112547
Court of Appeals of Ohio, Eighth District, Cuyahoga
January 18, 2024
Criminal Appeal from the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Case No. CR-21-657295-A
JUDGMENT: AFFIRMED
Michael C. O'Malley, Cuyahoga County Prosecuting Attorney, and Gregory M. Paul, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for appellee.
Friedman, Gilbert & Gerhardstein and Marcus Sidoti, for appellant.
JOURNAL ENTRY AND OPINION
MICHELLE J. SHEEHAN, JUDGE
{¶ l} Defendant-appellant Jason Beard appeals his conviction for aggravated vehicular homicide. Because the trial court properly instructed the jury, Beard's conviction was based on sufficient evidence and the conviction was not
against the manifest weight of the evidence, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
PROCEDURAL HISTORY AND RELEVANT FACTS
{¶ 2} On February 24, 2021, Beard was indicted for two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide for the death of Daniel Ripepi. The first count charged a violation of RC. 2903.06(A)(2)(a) alleging Beard operated a vehicle recklessly causing Ripepi's death. The second count charged a violation of R.C. 2903.06(A)(2)(b), alleging Beard operated a vehicle negligently causing Ripepi's death.
{¶ 3} After a jury trial, Beard was convicted of aggravated vehicular homicide in violation of R.C. 2903.06(A)(2) for driving recklessly and causing Ripepi's death.[1]The trial court sentenced Beard to community-control sanctions for a period of three years and suspended Beard's driver's license for a period of five years.
{¶ 4} Beard's conviction resulted from his actions driving a dump truck on September 24, 2020, at a construction site. On that date, Beard was driving for Midland Concrete & Sand at a construction site adjacent to I-480. Beard delivered a load of material to the site, emptied the truck, and proceeded to drive away from the site to enter the highway. However, the dump bed of the truck was still raised, and before Beard entered the highway, the bed hit an overhead sign causing the sign
and the truss supporting it to fall. The sign and a portion of the truss hit a pick-up truck on the highway, and the driver of the truck, Ripepi, died as a result of being hit by a portion of the sign and truss that entered the cab of the truck through the windshield.
{¶ 5} Testimony at trial established that Beard drove to the construction site at 8:30 a.m. and that he was running late. Beard dumped the load from the bed of his truck in the wrong location. Johnathan Zak, the construction supervisor at the site, testified that when dumping the load from the truck, Beard did not use a "spotter." He testified that a spotter is used to assist a driver to ensure that no overhead obstructions would be hit. Zak further said it was necessary to use a spotter that day because there was a bridge, signs, and overhead obstructions at the construction site.
{¶ 6} After dumping the load from his truck, Beard pulled away with the bed of his truck in an upright position. Witnesses testified they saw Beard's truck driving onto I-480 with the bed of the truck fully raised and that the bed hit an overhead sign. One witness testified that he saw that the driver had headphones on and that because the witness knew the truck was going to hit the sign, the witness started honking his horn at the dump truck.
{¶ 7} Troopers from the Ohio State Highway patrol arrived at the scene of the incident to investigate. Trooper Elliott Rawson testified that Beard drove the dump truck from the construction zone onto the access road but he believed that Beard never entered the main lanes of the highway. Trooper Tim Gatesman
examined the dump truck shortly after the crash and found that the truck's dump bed and all warning lights were working properly. Trooper Gatesman further testified that the height of the fully opened bed on Beard's truck was 25 and ½ feet and that the maximum height allowed on the highway would be 13 and ½ feet.
{¶ 8} Thomas Brown, the lead technician for Midland Concrete testified that it was never acceptable to drive a dump truck with the bed raised. In his testimony, Zak stated that if a driver drove with the bed of the truck raised, there would also be a risk of the truck flipping. Richard Cerny, an accident investigator hired by Beard, testified that Beard should have had a spotter and was careless in driving away before the bed was lowered. There was also testimony at trial that there would have been a light on in the truck that indicated the bed was raised. Additionally, Zach Bergen, who was a vice president at Midland Concrete & Sand for 22 years testified that the dangers associated with driving with the bed of a dump truck raised were communicated to all drivers.
{¶ 9} After the accident, Beard made a statement to the Ohio State Highway Patrol. In the statement, Beard said that he believed he lowered the bed before he drove toward the highway, he knew the bed had not completely lowered, and he believed it would take about four of five seconds for the bed to be completely lowered. Trooper Jason Turner testified that lowering the bed of that truck would take about 45 seconds. Trooper Turner also estimated that the truck Beard was driving was travelling at about 20 m.p.h. when it hit the truss. Beard's accident investigator estimated that Beard was travelling between 5 and 22 m.p.h.
LAW AND ARGUMENT
{¶ 10} Beard raises three assignments of error, which read:
I. The trial court abused its discretion and appellant was deprived of a fair trial and due process of law as guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and by Section 10, Article I of the Ohio Constitution due to the trial court not giving a full and accurate jury instruction on recklessness and negligence.
II. The trial court erred when it denied appellant's motion for acquittal under Crim.R. 29 because the state failed to present sufficient evidence to establish beyond a reasonable doubt the elements necessary to support the conviction.
III. Appellant's conviction is against the manifest weight of the evidence.
Jury Instructions
{¶ 11} Within his first assignment of error, Beard argues that the trial court was required to give additional instructions to the jury on the difference between recklessness and negligence because the key issue at trial was whether Beard acted recklessly. The state argues that the court's instruction to the jury accurately stated the law and that Beard's requested instructions would be redundant to the instructions given by the trial court.
{¶ 12} Prior to the court instructing the jury, Beard moved to supplement the Ohio Jury Instructions on recklessness with language derived from State v. Peck, 172 Ohio App.3d 25, 2007-Ohio-2730, 872 N.E.2d 1263 (10th Dist.).[2] In Peck, a tow
truck driver used a "snatch block," a large pulley with an attached hook, that was insufficient to pull the weight of the tractor-trailer the driver was attempting to move. Id. at ¶ 4. As a result, the snatch block broke and catapulted into a passing car, killing the driver of the car. Id. Peck was convicted of reckless homicide in violation of R.C. 2903.041. Id. at ¶ 6.
{¶ 13} On appeal, the Tenth District Court of Appeals reversed the conviction, finding the evidence at trial failed to prove the driver knew the risk...
To continue reading
Request your trial