State v. Wilson

Citations

• 2022 Ohio 2769

Syllabus

Murder felonious assault manifest weight of the evidence prior inconsistent statements unfair surprise motion for new trial juror misconduct in camera review grand jury proceedings. Defendant's convictions were supported by the manifest weight of the evidence where three witnesses testified that he was the driver of the car involved in a drive-by shooting, one witness testified that he was the shooter, and cell phone records placed him in the vicinity of the crime scene despite his statement to police that he was elsewhere at the time of the shooting. The record did not support a finding of juror misconduct where one of the jurors was the defendant's assistant principal nearly ten years earlier and did not seem to remember the defendant. Trial court properly denied a motion for new trial based on unfair surprise because a witness's prior inconsistent statements are generally not grounds for a new trial but may be used for impeachment purposes to attack the witness's credibility. Defendant failed to demonstrate a particularized need for an in camera inspection of grand jury transcripts simply because a witness initially provided an inconsistent statement to police, and the witness revised the statement prior to trial.