Appeals court upholds conviction of woman who threw bleach at officers

Ohio's Fourth District Court of Appeals has upheld the convictions of a Hillsboro woman charged with throwing bleach in the face of officers with the Highland County Sheriff's Office. 

According to the court's opinion published online last week, a jury in Highland County, in November 2009, had found Iva Browning guilty of two counts of attempted felonious assault on a peace officer. Browning, represented by attorney Susan Zurface Daniels, appealed the conviction, with six assignments of error. 

The state was represented by Anneka Collins and Jim Grandey of the Highland County Prosecutor's Office. 

Browning alleged the following assignments of error:  "The trial court erred in finding that the officers' warrantless entry into (Browning's) private vacation home did not violate (state or federal law) when the state failed to show exigent circumstances or any other valid exception to the warrant requirement"; The trial court misapplied case law and "erred in denying (Browning's) request to present evidence of self-defense and in denying (Browning's) request for a self-defense instruction; "The trial court erred in instructing the jury that the deputies had a legal right to enter the trailer to arrest the defendant as warrantless entry was not a fact that needed to be proven or disproven and simply created a prejudicial situation where the jury was led to believe that the actions of law enforcement officers were legitimate";  "The trial court erred in overruling the defendant's ... motion for acquittal on the grounds that, when viewed in a light more favorable to the prosecution, the state has failed at the close of its evidence to meet its burden on essential elements of each charge"; "The verdicts finding (Browning) guilty to attempted felonious assault ... were against the manifest weight of the evidence, as all physical evidence presented at trial supported the defendant's version of the events and did not support the officers' testimony" ; "The verdicts finding (Browning) guilty of attempted felonious assault ... were not supported by sufficient evidence, as the state failed to present any evidence supporting the officers' version of the events."

According to the court's decision, on April 24, 2009, officers with the Highland County Sheriff's Office responded to a call that the Hickory Hills campground that a lady was "gettin' assaulted with a pair of scissors." Deputy Ronnie Hughes responded and met with the alleged victim, who identified Browning as the perpetrator, and said she did not want to press charges. Hughes went to Browning's camper to speak with her about the incident. 

Less than an hour later, according to court documents, officers were called back to the campgrounds regarding reports Browning was "driving up and down a campground road and threatening people." Hughes returned to the scene and told Browning she was under arrest, "but she refused to exist the camper or let him come inside."

A short time later, Deputy Michael Gaines arrived on the scene, and he and Hughes, according to the appeal, made entry to the camper with the use of a crow bar. They attempted to physically take her into custody, but she broke free and locked herself in the bedroom of the camper. 

"After the deputies broke down the bedroom door and attempted to enter the bedroom, (Browning) threw bleach into their faces and forced them to retreat," according to the court's decision.

The deputies eventually took her into custody. When she was later transferred to the Highland County Justice Center, she accused the deputies of sexual assault, according to the appeal.  

During the November 2009 jury trial in Highland County Common Pleas Court, an emergency room physician testified regarding his treatment to the deputies following the incident, and that they experienced pain and potential permanent injury. 

"Deputies Rob Music and Erica Engle both testified that during their encounters with appellant, she freely admitted the assaults, but claimed that she acted in self-defense and also stated that she had been sexually assaulted ... Browning did admit that she threw the bleach at the deputies, but only after she received a “crushing blow to (her groin area)," according to court documents. She also claimed that she had been tased in her chest area. "Subsequently, the jury returned verdicts finding appellant not guilty of felonious assault, but guilty of the lesser offense of attempted felonious assault against the deputies. The trial court sentenced appellant to serve consecutive four year prison terms for each count."

Regarding the first assignment of error, the court of appeals found that there was no reason to justify a forced, warrantless entry into the camper. However, "We believe that whatever limited right appellant had to resist the unlawful entry, that right vanished once the deputies were inside and appellant’s subsequent ... throwing bleach in the deputies’ faces when they entered the bedroom, constitutes an “independent criminal act ... Further, regardless of whether the entry was lawful, the Fourth Amendment does not confer a right on suspects to assault peace officers ... We believe the trial court's conclusion to refuse to suppress evidence of the assaults against Deputies Hughes and Gaines is correct, albeit for different reasons. Consequently, we hereby overrule appellant's first assignment of error."

The court overruled the remaining assignments of error and affirmed the trial court's judgment.