[Cite as State v. Kress, 2018-Ohio-4318.]

COURT OF APPEALS 

STARK COUNTY, OHIO 

FIFTH APPELLATE DISTRICT 

STATE OF OHIO : JUDGES: 

 : Hon. John W. Wise, P.J. 

 Plaintiff - Appellee : Hon. Patricia A. Delaney, J. 

 : Hon. Craig R. Baldwin, J. 

-vs- : 

 : 

RICHARD KRESS : Case No. 2018CA00003 

 : 

 Defendant - Appellant : O P I N I O N 

 

CHARACTER OF PROCEEDING: Appeal from the Stark County Court 

of Common Pleas, Case No. 2017 

CR 1616 

 

JUDGMENT: Affirmed 

DATE OF JUDGMENT: October 22, 2018 

APPEARANCES: 

For Plaintiff-Appellee For Defendant-Appellant 

JOHN D. FERRERO EUGENE CAZANTZES 

Prosecuting Attorney 101 Central Plaza South, Ste. 1000 

 Canton, Ohio 44702 

By: KRISTINE W. BEARD 

Assistant Prosecuting Attorney 

Appellate Section 

110 Central Plaza South, Ste. 510 

Canton, Ohio 44702-1413 
Stark County, Case No. 2018CA00003 2 

Baldwin, J.

{¶1} Appellant, Richard Kress, appeals the December 1, 2017 decision of the 

Stark County Court of Common Pleas convicting him of felonious assault. Appellee is the 

State of Ohio. 

STATEMENT OF FACTS AND THE CASE 

{¶2} On Friday, August 18, 2017, Appellant and the victim, Korie Ball, were at 

Kendall Funk’s home on Garden Street in Alliance, Ohio with several other people. At 

some time in the evening, appellant’s girlfriend, Misty, claimed that someone had stolen 

her drugs. After an unsuccessful search, Appellant and Misty conducted individual strip 

searches of everyone in the home. 

{¶3} After Korie Ball was searched he sat in the living room and began talking 

with appellant. Appellant and Misty went back into a bedroom, and, when they returned, 

appellant approached Korie Ball, started pacing back and forth, and stabbed him in the 

bicep. 

{¶4} Korie Ball testified he “was sitting there and [appellant] was pacing back and 

forth, looked at me and stabbed me.” Brittany Burns, Korie’s girlfriend, was in the 

bathroom when she heard Korie Ball scream. She looked out and saw appellant stab 

Korie Ball in the arm and the profuse bleeding caused by the wound. Kendall Funk 

claimed appellant “act[ed] like he [was] going to stab” Korie Ball, but he did not believe 

appellant intended to harm him, but only meant to scare him. Funk stated that Korie Ball 

jumped when appellant acted like he was going to stab him, and Ball was impaled on the 

knife as a result of his own movement and not appellant’s action. Aleecia Braham also 
Stark County, Case No. 2018CA00003 3 

witnessed the assault and testified that Korie Ball’s reaction to appellant’s threatening 

motion caused the injury. 

{¶5} Korie Ball was bleeding profusely as he left Kendall Funk’s house. Misty, 

took Korie Ball to the hospital and while they were gone, appellant forced Brittany Burns 

and Aleecia Braham to clean the blood and burn the bloody rags. When Misty returned 

from the hospital, appellant left the house after he learned the police would be responding 

to the scene to investigate the stabbing. 

{¶6} Detective Rebecca Green of the Stark County Sheriff’s Office responded to 

the scene but no one would answer the door. She did not notice any blood on the 

premises, but did see a smoking “fire pit” in the yard. Detective Green spoke with Korie 

Ball after he recovered from surgery, later talked with several witnesses, and used that 

information to obtain a warrant for appellant’s arrest. 

{¶7} On October 13, 2017, the appellant was indicted on one count of felonious 

assault, a violation of R.C. 2903.11(A)(2) and felony of the second degree. The jury found 

the appellant guilty and, on December, 5, 2017, the trial court sentenced him to a term of 

six years. On January 3, 2018, the appellant filed a timely Notice of Appeal and submitted 

one assignment of error: 

{¶8} “I. THERE WAS INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE TO FIND THE APPELLANT 

GUILTY OF FELONIOUS ASSAULT AND HIS CONVICTION WAS AGAINST THE 

MANIFEST WEIGHT OF THE EVIDENCE.” 

STANDARD OF REVIEW 

{¶9} On review for sufficiency, the reviewing court is to examine the evidence at 

trial to determine whether such evidence, if believed, would support a conviction. State v. 
Stark County, Case No. 2018CA00003 4 

Jenks, 61 Ohio St. 3d 259, 574 N.E.2d 492 (1991). “The relevant inquiry is whether, after 

viewing the evidence in a light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact 

could have found the essential elements of the crime proven beyond a reasonable doubt.” 

Jenks at paragraph two of the syllabus, following Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S. 

Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). On review for manifest weight, the reviewing court is to 

examine the entire record, weigh the evidence and all reasonable inferences, consider 

the credibility of the witnesses and determine “whether in resolving conflicts in the 

evidence, the jury clearly lost its way and created such a manifest miscarriage of justice 

that the conviction must be reversed and a new trial ordered.” State v. Martin, 20 Ohio 

App.3d 172, 175, 485 N.E.2d 717 (1st Dist.1983); see also State v. Thompkins, 78 Ohio 

St.3d 380, 678 N.E.2d 541 (1997). The granting of a new trial “should be exercised only 

in the exceptional case in which the evidence weighs heavily against the conviction.” 

Martin, supra at 175. 

{¶10} We note the weight to be given to the evidence and the credibility of the 

witnesses are issues for the trier of fact. State v. DeHass, 10 Ohio St.2d 230, 227 N.E.2d 

212 (1967). The trier of fact “has the best opportunity to view the demeanor, attitude, and 

credibility of each witness, something that does not translate well on the written page.” 

Davis v. Flickinger, 77 Ohio St.3d 415, 418, 1997-Ohio-260, 674 N.E.2d 1159. 

ANALYSIS 

{¶11} In his sole Assignment of Error, appellant argues that there was not 

sufficient evidence to find him guilty of felonious assault and his conviction was against 

the manifest weight of the evidence. We disagree. 
Stark County, Case No. 2018CA00003 5 

{¶12} Appellant was convicted of felonious assault in violation of R.C. 

2903.11(A)(2) which provides in part that “no person shall knowingly *** [c]ause or attempt 

to cause physical harm to another *** by means of a deadly weapon.” “A person acts 

knowingly, regardless of his purpose, when he is aware that his conduct will probably 

cause a certain result or will probably be of a certain nature. A person has knowledge of 

circumstances when he is aware that such circumstances probably exist.” R.C. 

2901.22(B). A deadly weapon is “any instrument, device, or thing capable of inflicting 

death, and designed or specifically adapted for use as a weapon, possessed, carried, or 

used as a weapon. R.C. 2923.11(A). In State v. Hosier, 5th Dist. Morgan No. 2005-CA016, 2006-Ohio-5540, ¶ 26, this court explained that: 

Whether a person acts knowingly can only be determined, absent a 

defendant's admission, from all the surrounding facts and 

circumstances including the doing of the act itself. [Citation omitted.] 

Thus, ‘[t]he test for whether a defendant acted knowingly is a 

subjective one, but it is decided on objective criteria. [Citations 

omitted.]’ 

{¶13} In the case at hand, Appellant concedes that Korie Ball “suffered a serious 

injury” which was “caused by a knife, a deadly weapon.” Appellant’s Brief at 9. However, 

appellant asserts that the evidence is insufficient for a conviction of felonious assault 

because it does not support the conclusion that he knowingly stabbed Korie Ball. Id. 

Appellant also contends that the conviction was against the manifest weight of the 

evidence due to issues in witness credibility, a lack of motive or intent to harm Korie Ball, 

and conflicting witness testimony presented by the State at trial. 
Stark County, Case No. 2018CA00003 6 

{¶14} We have reviewed the record in this matter and conclude the state 

presented sufficient evidence to establish every element of felonious assault and that the 

conviction was not against the manifest weight of the evidence. The surrounding facts 

and circumstances support the jury’s conclusion that the appellant acted knowingly when 

he caused serious physical harm to Korie Ball. Furthermore, the jury did not “lose its way” 

in resolving conflicts in the evidence or weighing witness credibility. 

{¶15} At trial, the State of Ohio called four witnesses to the assault: Brittany Burns, 

Korie Ball, Kendall Funk, and Aleecia Braham. Brittany Burns and Korie Ball asserted that 

appellant stabbed Korie Ball. Kendall Funk and Aleecia Braham stated that appellant 

made a threatening motion toward Korie Ball with a knife, causing Korie Ball to jump and 

impale himself. 

{¶16} The witnesses, whether they embraced the theory that that Korie Ball was 

directly stabbed by appellant or that Korie Ball “jumped up” into the blade, agreed that the 

appellant brandished a knife and made some type of threatening motion toward Korie 

Ball. When viewing the evidence presented in the light most favorable to the prosecution, 

the jury was free to rely on the testimonies of Brittany Burns and Korie Ball to find that the 

appellant knowingly stabbed a knife directly into Korie Ball’s arm. 

{¶17} Alternatively, the testimonies of Kendall Funk and Aleecia Braham were 

sufficient for the jury to find that the appellant satisfied the knowledge component of the 

felonious assault. Funk and Braham stated that the appellant intended to scare Korie Ball 

by lunging toward him with a knife to make him flinch. One who lunges with a knife toward 

an unsuspecting individual is “aware that his conduct will probably cause a certain result” 

such as a grievous stab wound. 
Stark County, Case No. 2018CA00003 7 

{¶18} Therefore, we hold the state presented sufficient evidence for a jury to find 

that the appellant acted with the requisite intent for felonious assault. 

{¶19} Appellant's manifest weight argument focuses on (1) the credibility of the 

witnesses who admitted on the stand to a history of recreational drug use and (2) the 

conflicting testimonies offered by the witnesses. However, the weight and credibility to be 

given each witness’s testimony is primarily for the jury to determine. State v. DeHass 10 

Ohio St.2d at paragraph one of syllabus. Furthermore, appellant claims that the state 

needed to provide a motive for the stabbing to establish knowledge, but, as noted above, 

the state carries no such burden because “a person acts knowingly, regardless of his 

purpose, when he is aware that his conduct will probably cause a certain result.” R.C. 

2901.22(B) (emphasis added). 

{¶20} Based upon our review of the record, we do not find the jury clearly lost its 

way in making credibility judgements or resolving testimonial conflicts regarding 

appellant’s intent to stab Korie Ball with a knife in violation of R.C. 2903.11(A)(2). 

 
Stark County, Case No. 2018CA00003 8 

CONCLUSION 

{¶21} Based on the foregoing, we find that viewing the evidence in a light most 

favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found that appellant 

committed the offense of felonious assault beyond a reasonable doubt. We further find 

that the jury did not clearly lose its way in convicting appellant and the conviction did not 

create such a manifest miscarriage of justice that the conviction must be reversed and a 

new trial ordered. Appellant’s sole assignment of error is accordingly overruled. The 

decision of the Stark County Court of Common Pleas is affirmed. 

By: Baldwin, J. 

Wise, John, P.J. and 

Delaney, J. concur.