State v. Johnson

Citations

• 2018 Ohio 4131

Syllabus

MURDER – WEAPONS UNDER DISABILITY – EVIDENCE – OTHER ACTS – JURY INSTRUCTIONS – HARMLESS ERROR – PLAIN ERROR: The trial court did not err in admitting other-acts evidence relating to defendant's and his codefendant's drug activity where the evidence was \inextricably interwoven\ with the charged crimes, was necessary to give a complete picture of what had occurred, and was necessary to show the relationship between defendant, his codefendant and the victim. The admission of testimony about items pulled from the codefendant's trash, which included ammunition not related to the shooting and two digital drug scales, was not plain error given the other admissible evidence showing that defendant and his codefendant were involved in drug activity, and the otherwise overwhelming evidence against defendant. The admission into evidence of defendant's statement to the police that he had spent time in jail was harmless error given the evidence about his drug activity and the otherwise overwhelming evidence against him. The trial court did not err in admitting other-acts evidence under Evid.R. 403(A) where the evidence was not presented for the sole purpose of appealing to the jurors' emotions, sympathies or biases, but instead provided the setting of the case. The trial court did not commit plain error in failing to give limiting instructions after the testimony of every witness about other acts where defendant failed to request limiting instructions and where nothing in the record suggested that the jury had used improper other-acts evidence to convict defendant. The evidence was sufficient to support defendant's conviction for having weapons under a disability where it showed that defendant had constructively possessed a gun through his codefendant, and where defendant had a prior conviction for trafficking in marijuana, which precluded him from having a weapon. The evidence was sufficient to support defendant's conviction for felony murder under R.C. 2903.02 where it showed