Lyon v. State

155 N.E. 569, 23 Ohio App. 237, 4 Ohio Law. Abs. 546, 1926 Ohio App. LEXIS 405
Ohio Court of Appeals·Decided August 5, 1926·Published

Opinion

Cushing, J.

James Lyon, a paroled prisoner from the Mansfield reformatory, was suspected, in February, 1926, of having prior to that time burglarized a number of places in Huron county, Ohio, and of having committed other offenses against the state in other counties in northern Ohio, among them shooting at a deputy sheriff in Wood county.

The office of the American Railway Express Company at Norwalk, Huron county, Ohio, was entered the night of January 31, 1926. The safe was opened and a sum of money and certain property, including a number of revolvers, all the property of the company, were stolen. James Lyon and his brother, Leonard Lyon, were accused *239 of having committed this burglary and larceny, and a warrant was duly issued for their arrest. A search warrant was issued at the same time, directing the sheriff of Huron county to search the premises where the Lyon boys lived for the said property.

February 18, 1926, the warrants were placed in the hands of Frank A. Adelman and Harley Vincent, two deputy sheriffs of Huron county, who were instructed to arrest the Lyon boys and search the premises described for the stolen property. They repaired to the Lyon home near Havana, Huron county, accompanied by Frank McGrath and James Morgan from the police department of the American Railway Express Company.

On arriving at the Lyon home, they met Leonard Lyon in the yard. Adelman told him the object of their visit and asked where he could find his brother James, to which Leonard replied: “James is not at home; he is at Willard looking for work. ’ ’

Adelman served Leonard Lyon with the search warrant and directed that he be taken to the room occupied by James Lyon. Leonard conducted the four men, Adelman, Vincent, McGrath, and Morgan, into the house through the kitchen door. Morgan and Vincent remained down stairs; Adelman and McGrath went with Leonard up the stairs, along a hall, and into the room occupied by James. On entering this room, Leonard at once stepped to one side, close to the wall. McGrath and Adelman were confronted by James Lyon. He had a loaded revolver in each hand and ordered the two men to hold up their hands. They complied immediately. James directed Leonard to take the officers ’ guns from them. This he did. James Lyon, with his *240 guns pointed at the two officers, backed out of the door of his room, and ordered them to follow. He backed down the hall toward the stairs. Mc-Grath and Adelman followed with their hands above their heads. Leonard was immediately in the rear, with a revolver (those taken from the officers) in each hand. James backed down the steps to the landing. At that instant Morgan started up the stairs. He was immediately covered with a gun and ordered to “stick ’em up.” Morgan stepped backward and fell down the stairs, landing on his hands and knees. At that time McGrath jumped down the steps to the landing in an effort to overpower James Lyon. The two men grappled. James Lyon fired a number of shots. One of the bullets entered McGrath’s body, passed through his heart, and lodged in his back. Another passed through his collar and neck. A third bullet was imbedded in a door at the head of the stairs.

McGrath died instantly; his body fell down the stairs; Morgan reached for it, and as he was bending over the body James Lyon fired a shot at him. The bullet passed through his clothes over the shoulder, but did not touch his body.

There can be no doubt that McGrath’s death was caused by the bullet fired from the revolver by James Lyon. It was the one that passed through the heart. Prom the powder marks on McGrath’s clothes the shot was fired at close range. The revolver could not have been more than two or three inches from him when the shot was fired.

After the shooting James and Leonard Lyon escaped. They took the automobile belonging to the deputy sheriffs, drove it some distance, abandoned it in a town, stole another from the street, *241 and thus they went from town to town in stolen automobiles, leaving one and stealing another. After the lapse of some time they were finally apprehended near Alpena, Mich. At that time they attempted to shoot the officers pursuing them.

They were returned to Huron county, Ohio. They were indicted in three counts for murder in the first degree. James Lyon was tried on the first and second counts of the indictment, the jury returned a verdict of guilty without a recommendation of mercy, and the court sentenced him to be electrocuted. This action is prosecuted to reverse that judgment.

James Lyon testified in his own behalf. He told of reaching home at 4 o’clock on the morning of the shooting. His story differed in some respects as to what happened when the officers came to the Lyon home. The main point of difference between his story and that told by the officers was as to James Morgan’s acts. He claimed that Morgan fired the shot that killed McGrath. He does not claim that Morgan, when he fired, was close enough to McGrath to leave the powder marks on McGrath’s coat. But, admitting that that fact was in dispute, it was a question of fact. The jury determined it under proper instructions from the court. The conclusion of the jury is final. It should be observed that the jury did not err in its verdict. Our conclusion is that the verdict is supported by the evidence beyond any doubt.

Several errors of law are assigned from which it is argued that a new trial should be granted: (1) That the state was permitted to offer evidence of other crimes with which James Lyon was charged, as a part of the state’s case in chief; (2) *242 that James Liles was not a’qualified juror; (3) the refusal of the trial court to charge on the question of assault and battery and assault; (4) error of the court in overruling the peremptory challenge by the defense to juror Grlenn Wood.

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Lyon v. State, 155 N.E. 569, 23 Ohio App. 237, 4 Ohio Law. Abs. 546, 1926 Ohio App. LEXIS 405 (Ohio Ct. App. 1926).

155 N.E. 569 (Lyon v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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