[Cite as State v. Smith, 2026-Ohio-3424.]
IN THE COURT OF APPEALS
FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT OF OHIO
HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO
STATE OF OHIO, : APPEAL NO. C-250639
TRIAL NO. C/25/CRB/16771
Plaintiff-Appellee, :
vs. :
JAMES SMITH, : JUDGMENT ENTRY
Defendant-Appellant. :
This cause was heard upon the appeal, the record, and the briefs.
For the reasons set forth in the Opinion filed this date, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
Further, the court holds that there were reasonable grounds for this appeal, allows no penalty, and orders that costs be taxed under App.R. 24.
The court further orders that (1) a copy of this Judgment with a copy of the Opinion attached constitutes the mandate, and (2) the mandate be sent to the trial court for execution under App.R. 27.
To the clerk:
Enter upon the journal of the court on 9/2/2026.
Pursuant to App.R. 30, the clerk is directed to send all parties, or their counsel if represented, a copy of the court’s judgment and note such action on the docket.
By:_______________________
Administrative Judge
[Cite as State v. Smith, 2026-Ohio-3424.]
IN THE COURT OF APPEALS
FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT OF OHIO
HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO
STATE OF OHIO, : APPEAL NO. C-250639
TRIAL NO. C/25/CRB/16771
Plaintiff-Appellee, :
vs. :
JAMES SMITH, : OPINION
Defendant-Appellant. :
Criminal Appeal From: Hamilton County Municipal Court
Judgment Appealed From Is: Affirmed
Date of Judgment Entry on Appeal: September 2, 2026
Connie Pillich, Hamilton County Prosecuting Attorney, and Paula E. Adams, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for Plaintiff-Appellee,
Brian T. Goldberg, for Defendant-Appellant.
[Cite as State v. Smith, 2026-Ohio-3424.]
BOCK, Judge.
{¶1} Defendant-appellant James Smith appeals his misdemeanor-assault
conviction and contends, in a single assignment of error, that his conviction was
contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence because the evidence proved that he
struck the victim in self-defense.
{¶2} We overrule his assignment of error for two reasons. First, Smith has
not demonstrated that the trial court lost its way when it believed the victim’s
testimony. Second, Smith limits his arguments to the at-fault element of his selfdefense claim. But the elements of a self-defense claim are cumulative, the trial court’s
findings implicate the reasonable-belief and reasonable-force elements of Smith’s selfdefense claim, and Smith has not challenged the trial court’s findings under these
elements. We hold that Smith’s conviction is not contrary to the weight of the evidence.
{¶3} We affirm the trial court’s judgment of conviction.
I. Factual and Procedural History
{¶4} The State charged Smith with one count of misdemeanor assault in
violation of R.C. 2903.13.
A. The undisputed facts
{¶5} At Smith’s bench trial, the evidence established the following
undisputed facts. The victim and Smith share a mutual friend, D.J. One night in
September 2025, the victim was at D.J.’s house when D.J. invited Smith and others
for a small gathering. Smith and his friends, including K.M. and J.J., arrived sometime
later. At one point, D.J. began arguing with his partner. After that argument turned
violent, the victim intervened and tried to break up that fight. D.J.’s partner left the
house. Smith’s friends, K.M. and J.J., went outside. Next, the victim told Smith to
OHIO FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEALS
leave. Smith refused. Smith and the victim fought inside the home, and the fight spilled
outside to the front lawn.
B. The victim’s account
{¶6} The victim recalled his attempts to calm D.J. down after D.J.’s fight with
his partner. The victim noticed that Smith remained in D.J.’s home even though
Smith’s friends appeared to be leaving. So, the victim told Smith that the night had
become “too rowdy” and it was “time for everybody to go.” According to the victim,
Smith “started getting aggressive.” The victim testified, “Next thing I know, I’m getting
punched in the face by [Smith].” After a brief pause to exchange words with one
another, Smith “start[ed] coming at [the victim] again.” The victim and Smith fought,
which spilled into the front yard.
{¶7} The victim denied making any confrontational or threatening gestures
to Smith to prompt Smith’s first strike. But the victim acknowledged that he tried to
defend himself against Smith. The scuffle left the victim with cuts and bruises on his
face, and a cut on his foot. The evidence includes photographs of the victim’s injuries.
The investigating officer testified he noticed the victim’s injuries when he reported the
incident to the police the next day.
C. Smith’s friends’ accounts
{¶8} To prove his self-defense claim, Smith called K.M. and J.J. to testify.
K.J., Smith’s longtime friend, recalled walking outside of the house after the
confrontation between D.J. and his partner. Indeed, K.M. wanted both J.J. and Smith
to leave the party at that point, but Smith insisted on staying. K.M. described the start
of Smith’s scuffle with the victim. K.M. testified that she watched, through a window,
as the victim attacked Smith first.
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{¶9} J.J. testified that he was in front of the house and could see Smith’s and
the victim’s shadows through a window. While J.J. did not see the start of the fight
between Smith and the victim, J.J. recalled that the victim revived the fight with Smith
in front of the house.
D. The trial court found Smith guilty
{¶10} The trial court found that the State disproved Smith’s self-defense claim
because the victim simply told Smith to leave and, considering the size discrepancy
between “a big man” like Smith and a “slight” man like the victim, “the force was
unreasonable under the circumstances.” The trial court sentenced Smith to one day in
jail, with credit for one day served.
II. Analysis
A. Smith’s appeal is not moot
{¶11} As an initial matter, the State argues that Smith’s appeal is moot
because he has already served his sentence and he did not demonstrate that his
sentence was served involuntarily or will result in an ongoing collateral disability.
{¶12} This court lacks jurisdiction to consider moot appeals. See State v.
Horton, 2025-Ohio-5330, ¶ 8 (1st Dist.). For misdemeanor convictions, appeals are
moot where a defendant has voluntarily served the sentence and will suffer no
collateral disability or loss of civil rights. Id. at ¶ 4. A completed sentence was
involuntarily served if the defendant “neither acquiesced in the judgment nor
abandoned the right to appellate review.” City of Cleveland Hts. v. Lewis, 2011-Ohio2673, ¶ 25. Usually, a defendant must seek “a stay of execution of sentence from the
trial court for the purpose of preventing an intended appeal from being declared
moot.” Id. at ¶ 23.
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{¶13} But here, Smith was sentenced to time served. We have explained that
a defendant sentenced to time served for a misdemeanor conviction has “no
opportunity to ask the court to stay his sentence or otherwise object to his sentence
before he served it.” State v. Coffman, 2024-Ohio-1182, ¶ 9 (1st Dist.). In Coffman, we
held that a one-day sentence with credit for one day of time served fails to demonstrate
acquiescence by the defendant to moot an appeal of a misdemeanor conviction. Id. So
too here. Smith had no opportunity to seek a stay of execution and there is nothing in
the record to suggest acquiescence on his part. So, Smith’s appeal is not moot.
B. Assignment of error: Smith’s conviction was not against the weight of
the evidence
{¶14} Smith argues that his assault conviction is against the manifest weight
of the evidence. In his view, he struck the victim in self-defense and was not
responsible for the affray.
{¶15} Smith appears to argue that the State failed to disprove an element of
his self-defense claim. We “conduct a manifest weight analysis to determine whether
the State met its burden of persuasion.” State v. Harris, 2025-Ohio-5438, ¶ 17 (1st
Dist.). We may reverse a conviction as against the manifest weight of the evidence only
if we conclude, after an independent review of the record, that the trier of fact
“‘“‘clearly lost its way and created such a manifest miscarriage of justice that the
conviction must be reversed and a new trial ordered’”’” and the evidence weighs
heavily against the conviction. State v. Reillo, Slip Opinion No. 2026-Ohio-2701, ¶ 26,
quoting State v. Brown, 2025-Ohio-2804, ¶ 30, quoting State v. Thompkins 1997-Ohio-52, ¶ 25, quoting State v. Martin, 20 Ohio App.3d 172 (1st Dist. 1983).
{¶16} Nondeadly force may be used in self-defense if (1) the defendant was not
at fault in creating the situation giving rise to the affray, (2) the defendant honestly
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and reasonably believed that he was in imminent danger of bodily harm, and (3) his
only option to protect himself from that imminent danger was using reasonablynecessary force to defend himself. See State v. Pitts, 2026-Ohio-2306, ¶ 21 (1st Dist.).
{¶17} Smith has not demonstrated that the trial court clearly lost its way when
it rejected his self-defense claim. Smith devotes his entire assignment of error to
challenging the trial court’s alleged finding that the State disproved the at-fault
element. He argues that the evidence proved that the victim was at fault because the
victim instructed Smith to leave the party and, based on K.M.’s and J.J.’s testimony,
the victim struck Smith first. But that framing assumes that K.M. and J.J. were more
credible than the victim, an assumption that is at odds with the trial court’s findings.
{¶18} Generally speaking, “we defer to the [trier of fact’s] credibility finding
as it is in the ‘superior position to decide which testimony to believe and which to
disregard.’” State v. Wolfert, 2026-Ohio-2850, ¶ 52 (1st Dist.), quoting Reillo, 2026-Ohio-2701, at ¶ 32. But a conviction may still be against the weight of the evidence
even with that deference to the trier of fact’s credibility findings. See Reillo at ¶ 31. For
example, a trier of fact may still lose its way, despite our deferential review, in cases
where “internally contradictory testimony as to material facts, direct impeachment, or
fantastical testimony clearly undermines a witness’s credibility on a cold record.” Id.;
see State v. Rose, 2024-Ohio-5689, ¶ 24 (1st Dist.). While Smith points out that the
victim “had the motivation to lie, as he admitted to fighting with Mr. Smith,” Smith
has not explained how the victim’s testimony about the fight was internally
contradictory, directly impeached, or fantastical.
{¶19} And even if the trial court’s reference to the victim “simply telling Mr.
Smith to leave” implicates the at-fault element, the trial court found that the State
disproved the reasonable-belief and reasonable-force elements of Smith’s self-defense
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claim. That matters because “‘the elements of self-defense are cumulative.’” State v.
Gatewood, 2021-Ohio-3325, ¶ 72 (1st Dist.), quoting State v. Jackson, 22 Ohio St.3d
281, 284 (1986). In other words, the State may secure a conviction by disproving only
“one of the elements of self-defense beyond a reasonable doubt.” Id. at ¶ 72.
{¶20} Start with Smith’s fear of danger. The use of force in self-defense must
be based on a defendant’s “honest belief” of imminent danger of bodily harm. State v.
Mitchell, 2023-Ohio-2604, ¶ 24 (1st Dist.). The State may disprove a claim of selfdefense by showing that the defendant’s “belief was not objectively reasonable or that
he did not have an honest subjective belief” of imminent danger.
Id. at ¶ 26. Here, the trial court found that “there was no danger” because the victim
was simply instructing Smith to leave the house. By finding that “there was no danger,”
the trial court inherently found that any belief of imminent bodily harm was
objectively unreasonable.
{¶21} Now turn to whether force was reasonably necessary. Self-defense “is
only available if ‘“‘the force used to repel the danger was not more than the situation
reasonably demanded.’”’” State v. Rose, 2024-Ohio-5689, ¶ 31 (1st Dist.), quoting
State v. Johnson, 2022-Ohio-2577, ¶ 15 (8th Dist.), quoting State v. Zafar, 2020-Ohio3341, ¶ 52-53 (10th Dist.), quoting State v. Johnson, 2009-Ohio-3500, ¶ 12 (6th Dist.).
This means that force must be objectively necessary and reasonable under the
circumstances. Id. The trial court found that Smith’s “force was unreasonable under
these circumstances.” Later, it pointed out that the victim “is slight in stature” and
“Smith is a big man.”
{¶22} So even if Smith’s at-fault argument had succeeded, the reasonablebelief and reasonable-force elements are alternate findings made by the trial court to
justify his conviction. But Smith does not challenge the trial court’s findings under
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these elements. As a reviewing court, we “decide cases based on issues raised by the
parties.” Epcon Communities Franchising, L.L.C. v. Wilcox Dev. Group, L.L.C., 2024-Ohio-4989, ¶ 15. Indeed, it is well established that “an appellate court will not create
an argument in support of an assignment of error where an appellant fails to develop
one.” Fontain v. Sandhu, 2021-Ohio-2750, ¶ 16 (1st Dist.).
{¶23} We hold that Smith’s conviction is not against the manifest weight of
the evidence and overrule the assignment of error.
III. Conclusion
{¶24} We overrule Smith’s assignment of error and affirm the trial court’s
judgment.
Judgment affirmed.
KINSLEY, P.J., and CROUSE, J., concur.
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