State v. Winegarner

Citations

• 2022 Ohio 4632

Syllabus

Indictment probable cause R.C. 2945.37 competency hearing sufficient indicia of incompetency sufficiency of the evidence attempted murder manifest weight of the evidence credibility of witnesses. Defendant was convicted of attempted murder, felonious assault, weapons while under disability, discharge of a firearm on or near prohibited premises, improperly handling a firearm in a motor vehicle, and carrying a concealed weapon. Defendant's challenge that the indictments were not based upon probable cause is not well taken where the indictments are valid on their face. Trial court erred by not holding a hearing to determine defendant's competency where competency report did not determine whether defendant could assist counsel. Because the record does not contain sufficient evidence of incompetency regarding defendant's ability to assist counsel, the error by the trial court was harmless. There was sufficient evidence of the charge of attempted murder where the victim was shot in the leg causing life-threatening injury and the defendant fired three more times at the victim before leaving the scene. The convictions were not against the manifest weight of the evidence where the identification of the defendant by eyewitnesses was corroborated by other evidence and it was within the jury's province to evaluate the credibility of the witnesses even though they had initially identified another suspect.