## Facts

- Rex Wenger participated in a demonstration opposing a Ku Klux Klan rally in Columbus, Ohio.
- Officer Joseph Whalen was part of a special group of plainclothes police officers assigned to attend the rally for surveillance and to arrest lawbreakers.
- Whalen observed another demonstrator, Cathy Pekel, throw eggs at Ku Klux Klan members.
- After the rally ended, Whalen approached Pekel to arrest her.
- Pekel resisted Whalen’s attempt to arrest her, and a physical struggle occurred.
- Wenger saw the struggle and went to Pekel’s assistance.
- Wenger struck Whalen in the lower back with the stick attached to the protest sign Wenger was carrying.
- Wenger was indicted for obstructing official business, resisting arrest, and assault.
- Wenger testified that he believed Pekel was in danger, that he intervened to protect her, and that he would not have intervened if he had known Whalen was a police officer conducting an arrest.
- Wenger was convicted of assault and appealed, arguing the trial court should have instructed the jury on justification based on defense of another person.

## Issues

1. Whether the evidence required a jury instruction that force is justified in defense of another when, under the circumstances as the actor believes them to be, the person being protected would be justified in using protective force and the actor believes intervention is necessary.
2. Whether Wenger’s claimed lack of knowledge that Whalen was a plainclothes officer making an arrest supported giving the requested defense-of-others instruction in the assault case.

## Decision

- Wenger appealed his assault conviction on the ground that the trial court failed to give his requested defense-of-others instruction.
- Publicly available case summaries do not include the appellate court’s final disposition (for example, whether the conviction was affirmed or reversed) or the full reasoning; the appeal is described as turning on the claimed instructional error regarding defense of others.

## Legal Principles

- A defendant is entitled to a requested jury instruction on a defense theory when there is evidence that, if believed, could support that defense.
- Defense of others may be framed to allow the use of force when, under the circumstances as the actor believes them to be: (a) the person the actor seeks to protect would be justified in using protective force, and (b) the actor believes intervention is necessary to protect the other person.
- When the encounter involves a plainclothes officer attempting an arrest, the actor’s knowledge (or claimed lack of knowledge) that the other participant is a police officer can matter to whether the actor believed the third person faced unlawful force.

## Conclusion

City of Columbus v. Wenger involved an assault conviction arising from a clash after a Ku Klux Klan rally, where Wenger struck a plainclothes officer while trying to help another demonstrator who was being arrested; on appeal, Wenger argued the jury should have been instructed on defense of others using a standard tied to the circumstances as he believed them to be, but non-paywalled materials do not reliably show the appellate court’s final disposition or detailed reasoning.


City of Columbus v. Wenger, 1978 Ohio App. LEXIS 7886 (1978)