State v. Finklea

Citations

• 2026 Ohio 1762

Syllabus

Sufficiency of the evidence; manifest weight of the evidence; aggravated murder; murder; felonious assault; prior calculation and design; aggravated burglary; App.R. 26 motion to reopen; reopened appeal. There was insufficient evidence that appellant acted with prior calculation and design. Conviction for aggravated murder vacated. All other convictions affirmed. There was no evidence that appellant and others were planning on killing the victim. There was no evidence that appellant knew the victim or knew that he was going to be in the apartment he visited. The evidence showed that the shooter reacted in the spur of the moment with, at most, momentary consideration that occurred in the seconds after the victim left the apartment. There was sufficient evidence of aggravated murder with the underlying offense being aggravated burglary. There was evidence of trespass. Appellant did not have permission to be in the apartment. Although there was conflicting evidence whether the apartment door was open or closed, the element of force can be met by opening a closed door and the appellant's DNA was on the inside of the door handle. Moreover, at least one witness testified that the apartment door was closed when appellant entered. A reasonable juror could infer that appellant formed the purpose to commit a criminal offense when he entered the apartment, while in the apartment, or when chasing the victim after he left the apartment. Although the shooting occurred outside the apartment in a commonly used hallway, the shooting was part of a continuous sequence of events and State only had to show that appellant formed the purpose to commit a crime when he trespassed in the apartment or during the course of the trespass. Appellant's convictions were not against the manifest weight of the evidence. Although there was evidence that another man was the shooter and it is doubtful that the shooting occurred as some witnesses testified to, there was also evidence that appellant was t