Ohio Supreme Court case will test new self-defense shooting law

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A Cincinnati cab driver shot through the neck of a drunken passenger after an unpaid fare prompted an escalating confrontation.

The sudden violence, center stage at oral arguments before the Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday, will test the scope of a new Ohio law that offers legal advantages for defendants who say they only injured or killed others in self-defense.

On Dec. 19, 2019, a man named Nick Young, after a long day of partying, was ejected from the Hard Rock Casino in downtown Cincinnati after he was found passed out near the slot machines. Casino staff called him a cab, driven by Phillip Palmer, to take him the roughly 30 miles home to Moscow, Ohio.

Young was later determined to have a blood alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit to drive. After a dispute over the fare, a stop at a gas station, nonpayment, Young shoving Palmer, and ejection from the gas station, both men nearly parted ways.

But Young, with motives under dispute, returned to walk toward Palmer, who pulled a .44 revolver from his cab and shot Young, the bullet going through his neck and out his back. Young fell, and Palmer fired another round into the ground near Young before fleeing. Young ultimately survived.

Palmer – then 71, a Vietnam veteran and seasoned driver who held a concealed weapons permit – was acquitted by a jury of attempted murder but convicted on a charge of felonious assault. He was sentenced to 5 to 7.5 years, plus another three years as a firearm specification.

A 2019 law, passed by gun-friendly statehouse Republicans, eased the path to mount a self-defense claim in Ohio courts. It shifted the burden of proof from defendants to prosecutors on self-defense claims. Now, defendants only need to show evidence that “tends to support” a self-defense claim in order to present the defense to jurors. Prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt (a higher standard to meet) that the defendant wasn’t acting in self-defense.

After prosecutors presented their case at trial, Clermont County Common Pleas Judge Ricard Ferenc ruled that he would instruct the jury to ignore claims of self-defense. He said Palmer first created a violent situation by following Young into the gas station, and that his claim of self-defense was “not credible.”

The two sides disputed why Young walked back over to Palmer outside the gas station, prompting the near fatal shooting. Attorneys for Palmer argued Young was rushing toward him as an attack. Attorneys for Young argued that Palmer had actually yelled to Young that he had his phone in the cab, which prompted him to walk over.

The jury convicted Palmer, and his lawyers say it might not have done so if jurors were properly told of Palmer’s argument that he was only defending himself. John Hill, a lawyer for Palmer, told the Supreme Court justices at oral arguments Wednesday that whether this was an act of self-defense is a question that belongs to a jury, not a judge.

“These were factual questions supposed to be left to the jury not the trial court,” he said.

Nick Horton, of the Clermont County Prosecutor’s Office, argued judges act as a “gatekeeper” in such cases, and shouldn’t allow unsubstantiated claims of self-defense to go to jurors. Justice Jennifer Brunner at one point suggested the court could use its opinion to establish what ‘tends to support’ means in the law and how judges could determine who decides who meets the standard.

The case underscores the murky conditions that can surround self-defense claims. In many instances, hot tempers, alcohol, or split-second misunderstandings quickly escalate confrontations. In some cases, one of two parties to whatever occurred is dead.

Since the 2019 law, state policy makers have gone further to loosen Ohio’s gun rules. They passed a “stand your ground” law that removes the requirement that a person seek to retreat before responding to a perceived attack in self-defense.

Last year, they passed a law removing the requirement that gun owners seek a permit to carry a concealed firearm.

Jake Zuckerman covers state politics and policy for Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer.