State v. Patton

Citations

• 2021 Ohio 295

Syllabus

MURDER – COMPLICITY – EVIDENCE – SUFFICIENCY — WEIGHT OF EVIDENCE – PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT – COUNSEL: Defendant's convictions on two counts of murder under the theory of complicity were supported by sufficient evidence where his intent could be inferred by the evidence that defendant started an altercation, threatened to shoot others while touching his side, and gave his gun to the shooter before starting the altercation. Defendant's convictions were not against the weight of the evidence because the jury was entitled to believe the testimony of the witnesses and the state was not required to submit physical evidence or recover a weapon to satisfy its burden. Comments made by the prosecutor in closing argument did not rise to the level of plain error where the defendant failed to demonstrate that he would not have been convicted in the absence of the comments. [See CONCURRENCE: The prosecutor's comments were highly improper even though they did not rise to the level of plain error.] Defense counsel was not ineffective for failing to call an expert in crime scene reconstruction because counsel thoroughly cross-examined the state's expert, and any testimony that a crime scene reconstructionist would have provided was purely speculative.