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Man guilty of assaulting officer to get new trial
TRACEY BLAIR
Legal News Reporter
Published: June 19, 2013
A man convicted of assault of a peace officer and aggravated robbery did not receive effective counsel, the 7th District Court of Appeals recently ruled.
Joseph M. Antill was convicted of both charges by a Belmont County jury and sentenced to four years in prison.
The incident began on Oct. 15, 2009, at Riverside Restaurant.
According to case summary:
Phyllis Holt was bartending that night when Antill began yelling at another patron. Holt asked him to leave after he refused to lower his voice.
Holt called 911 after Antill came back into the bar.
An officer suggested he go home and “sleep it off.”
Several hours later, another Riverside employee called Powhatan police to report Antill made a threatening call stating, “You tell them in the back I’ll get them.”
Two patrolmen then went to Antill’s home to warn him to stop calling the restaurant. Antill cursed and yelled at police, pushed an officer and was Tased.
Antill, who was much larger than the officers, allegedly yanked on the butt of a patrolman’s loaded gun, which is where the robbery charge came in.
Antill testified he did not try to grab the gun but was attempting to push himself off of the officer.
On appeal, Antill argued his counsel was ineffective because she submitted the police report without redacting the “other bad acts” evidence from it.
The report details how Antill had prior arrests for domestic violence against his parents, that he has a history of fighting at bars and is “mean, loud and violent” when he drinks.
7th District judges voted 3-0 to remand the case for a new trial.
“It is likely that appellant lost credibility in the jury’s eyes based on the statements in the incident report,” Appellate Judge Gene Donofrio wrote. “…All of these statements make appellant’s testimony less believable especially in light of the fact that appellant had been drinking on the night in question. Thus, we must conclude that appellant was prejudiced by the incident report.”
Fellow 7th District judges Joseph J. Vukovich and Cheryl L. Waite concurred.
The panel did not find merit to Antill’s argument that his lawyer was ineffective for failing to raise a Crim.R. 29 motion asking for acquittal of the aggravated robbery charge.
Antill argued he was not charged with that offense until five months after the incident and that Officer Haught testified he never thought he was trying to take his gun.
“Officer Yates testified that he saw appellant attempt to remove Officer Haught’s service weapon from his holster,” according to the opinion. “At the time, Officer Haught was attempting to help Officer Yates arrest appellant for assaulting a police officer. Therefore, there was evidence that Officer Haught was within the course and scope of his duties. And Officer Haught was wearing his police uniform at the time. Hence, appellant had reasonable cause to know that Officer Haught was a law enforcement officer.”
The case is cited State v. Antill, No. 12 BE 3.