State v. Akins

Citations

• 2024 Ohio 1491

Syllabus

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW/CRIMINAL – VOIR DIRE – PEREMPTORY CHALLENGE – BATSON V. KENTUCKY – CONFRONTATION CLAUSE – EVIDENCE – MURDER – TAMPERING WITH EVIDENCE – HAVING A WEAPON WHILE UNDER A DISABILITY –COUNSEL – EVID.R. 609 – EVID.R. 404 – MISTRIAL – SUPPRESSION – JURY INSTRUCTIONS – PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT – SENTENCING – CONSECUTIVE SENTENCES – PROPORTIONALITY: The trial court properly overruled defendant's Batson challenge where the prosecutor provided a race-neutral explanation and defendant makes no argument as to why that explanation was pretextual beyond arguing that the explanation would not support striking the juror for cause: The trial court properly resolved the Batson challenge procedurally where the trial court allowed defendant to respond to the state's race-neutral explanation and then clearly rejected the challenge on the record. The trial court erred in admitting statements by a nontestifying witness in violation of the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment to the United State Constitution, but the error was harmless because the erroneously admitted testimony was cumulative to other testimony and the other evidence presented established defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Defendant's conviction for murder with a firearm specification was supported by sufficient evidence and not against the manifest weight of the evidence where, though a masked shooter murdered the victim and no witness could identify the shooter, the evidence supported a reasonable inference that defendant was the masked shooter because the shooter was shot while escaping, defendant arrived at a hospital shortly after the murder with gunshot wounds, and defendant's pants were stained with the victim's blood. Defendant's conviction for having a weapon while under a disability was supported by sufficient evidence and not against the manifest weight of the evidence where defendant's conviction for murder with a firearm specification was supported by sufficient evidence and w