State v. Jones

Citations

• 151 N.E.3d 1059
• 2020 Ohio 281

Syllabus

AGGRAVATED MURDER – EVIDENCE – SUFFICIENCY – SELF-DEFENSE – CONSTITUTIONAL LAW/CRIMINAL – CUMULATIVE ERROR: Defendant's conviction for aggravated murder was not supported by sufficient evidence of \prior calculation and design\ where defendant did not engage in a studied consideration of the method, means, or location of the killing: defendant did not choose the time or location of the shooting, there is no evidence that defendant knew the victim would be at the location of the shooting, and the act was an almost instantaneous eruption of events. [But see DISSENT: The state presented sufficient evidence of \prior calculation and design\ where, construing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, the evidence supported the conclusion that defendant engaged in a pattern of activity that involved ascertaining the whereabouts of the victim, strategically parking his vehicle, exiting from it with gun in hand, and firing multiple times at the victim.] The defense did not open the door for, and the trial court erred in admitting into evidence, other-weapons photographs where defense counsel made only a brief implication during cross-examination and no unfair prejudice to the state resulted from defense counsel's question. Where defendant pursued a theory of self-defense in a murder trial, the trial court's exclusion of evidence as to defendant's state of mind at the time of the offense violated defendant's right to present a complete defense: (1) the trial court erred in excluding as hearsay defendant's testimony that his father and aunt told him about an incident where the victim made threatening statements against defendant while possessing a gun and (2) the trial court erred in arbitrarily excluding social media posts by the victim pertaining to violence and guns where it allowed the state to capitalize on the improper ruling in its closing argument. [But see DISSENT: While the trial court erred in admitting the photo of the guns and ammunition, precl