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9th District reverses felony arson conviction
TRACEY BLAIR
Legal News Reporter
Published: September 13, 2013
Evidence at trial was sufficient to support a jury conviction for burglary against a Medina County man.
However, the finding relative to the felony arson conviction regarding the value of property is reversed in the case of Marc Bates, the 9th District Court of Appeals recently ruled.
In May 2012, Bates was sentenced to 12 years in prison after being found guilty of burglary with a repeat violent offender specification, theft of a motor vehicle, two counts of breaking and entering and arson.
According to case summary, the Medina County home of William Harmath and his son, John, was burglarized on Sept. 12, 2011. The intruder stole several jars of coins containing about $1,500, the father’s wedding rings and the son’s blue Ford Ranger pickup truck.
That morning, neighbors John Tesar and Constance Hammon told police someone had broken the lock to their barn and taken bicycles and an oxygen tank, which were later recovered across the street.
Four days later, police discovered a pickup truck on fire in nearby Wayne County, while another resident told police her red Dodge Ram pickup was missing from her barn.
Officers determined the burned truck was Harmath’s stolen Ranger and that Meghan Mora and Bates were involved in the crimes.
The two were arrested, and Bates admitted taking the two trucks.
At trial, William Harmath testified that he suspected his neighbor’s son, Russell Hammon, may have been involved in the break-ins.
In addition, Harmath said Mora and Bates were friends of Hammon’s, and that he had met them a week prior to the thefts as he worked in his garage.
Mora and Bates introduced themselves as a married couple, claiming Bates had lost his wedding ring at a nearby campsite. Harmath agreed to give them a ride to go look for it.
Harmath said he became suspicious because Bates claimed to have found the ring as soon as he turned his back, and that Mora showed no reaction to finding the ring.
Officers found the duo driving a stolen red Dodge Ram after Mora left a meeting with her probation officer.
During a videotaped interview of Bates, he admitted camping in a field across from the Hammon’s house. Bates claimed a man named Jason Cantrell went inside the garage alone and stole the Hamath’s property.
Bates’ appeal argued that the evidence was insufficient to prove he trespassed inside the Harmath home to support the burglary conviction. Bates noted that Harmath could not identify the intruder because he could not see the man’s face.
But 9th District Judge Carla Moore wrote that Bates matched Harmath’s body description of the suspect. In addition, an officer testified there were more than one set of tracks through wet grass from the home to the field across the street.
“Further, William Harmath testified that the `crock’ of pennies in his bedroom was large and very heavy,” Moore stated in her 3-0 opinion. “He would not think that one person could lift and remove the crock on his own. This evidence suggest that Mr. Bates entered the Harmath home with Mr.Cantrell.”
In addition, a detective identified Bates on a Giant Eagle security video, where Bates told officers that he and Cantrell had cashed in the coins.
As to the arson conviction, Bates claimed there was no direct evidence he started the truck fire or to establish the value of the truck.
The panel found sufficient circumstantial evidence to prove the arson claim.
However, the higher court agreed the arson charge should not have been elevated from a first-degree misdemeanor to a fourth-degree felony.
“Here, the jury returned a finding that the value of the property subject to the arson was one thousand dollars or more. We agree with Mr. Bates that this finding was not supported by sufficient evidence,” Moore wrote.
For instance, nobody testified as to the truck’s value prior to the fire or cost to replace the 2000 truck and/or its contents.
Appellate judges Eve Belfance and Jennifer Hensal concurred.
The case is cited State v. Bates, No. 12CA0046-M.