State v. Partin

Citations

• 2020 Ohio 4624

Syllabus

Defendant appeals convictions for child endangering, involuntary manslaughter, and murder. Victim, a three-year-old, dropped off by victim's father to defendant, victim's babysitter. Defendant claimed that the victim then \passed out.\ Defendant admitted in police interview to shaking, squeezing, and dropping victim. Victim died from traumatic brain injuries. Crim.R. 16(K). Trial court did not err in failing to exclude expert opinion testimony concerning patterns and locations of bruises observed on victim's body as indicative of child abuse where expert's written report did not refer to \patterns and locations\ of bruises. The report summarized the expert's finding that the extent of bruising indicated child abuse. Expert's testimony at trial was within scope of opinion letter. State did not violate discovery rules by allegedly failing to disclose father's new recollection about friend staying with him the day before the victim's collapse. Presence of friend one day earlier was immaterial where victim behaved normally at drop-off and medical evidence established that victim's injuries would have immediately rendered her unconscious and non-ambulatory, excluding the friend as a potential suspect. Defendants' trial counsel not ineffective for failing to move to suppress a police interview where the defendant waived Miranda rights prior to interview and defendant's confession was not the result of coercion or threats. State submitted sufficient evidence to convict and the defendant's conviction was supported by manifest weight of the evidence where defendant and victim's father agreed victim was acting normally upon drop-off, defendant admitted shaking, squeezing, and dropping victim and medical evidence indicated that victim's injuries would have rendered her unresponsive and non-ambulatory within seconds.