State v. Bonnell (Slip Opinion)

2018 Ohio 4069, 119 N.E.3d 1285, 155 Ohio St. 3d 176
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 10, 2018
Docket2017-1360
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 2018 Ohio 4069 (State v. Bonnell (Slip Opinion)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Bonnell (Slip Opinion), 2018 Ohio 4069, 119 N.E.3d 1285, 155 Ohio St. 3d 176 (Ohio 2018).

Opinion

O'Donnell, J.

*176 {¶ 1} Melvin Bonnell appeals from the denial of his second application for DNA testing, following his conviction and death sentence for the 1987 murder of Robert Eugene Bunner. He presents two propositions of law for our consideration. We lack jurisdiction to consider the first proposition of law and conclude that Bonnell has failed to show that any of the evidence he sought to have tested could yield a result that would be outcome determinative. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas.

Factual and Procedural Background

Bonnell's conviction and direct appeals

{¶ 2} A Cuyahoga County grand jury indicted Bonnell on two counts of aggravated murder ( R.C. 2903.01 ), each with firearm and aggravated-burglary specifications; one count of aggravated burglary ( R.C. 2911.11 ), with firearm and *177 prior-offender specifications; and one count of possessing a weapon under disability ( R.C. 2923.13 ) with specifications. In our decision on Bonnell's direct appeal, we summarized the facts of the case:

Shirley Hatch, Edward Birmingham and Robert Eugene Bunner shared an apartment on Bridge Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio. On November 28, 1987, at approximately 3:00 a.m., Hatch heard someone knock at the kitchen door of the apartment.
*1287 Hatch asked who was at the door and a voice replied, "Charles." Bunner opened the door and appellant, Melvin Bonnell, entered the apartment and closed the door behind him. Appellant uttered an expletive directed at Bunner and then proceeded to fire two gunshots at Bunner at close range. Bunner fell to the floor and Hatch, who had witnessed the shooting, ran to a bedroom where Birmingham was sleeping. Hatch heard two more gunshots, awoke Birmingham to tell him that Bunner had been shot, and then fled from the apartment to call paramedics. Birmingham went to the kitchen.
Upon entering the kitchen, Birmingham observed appellant who was on top of Bunner "* * * pounding him in the face." Birmingham also observed bullet holes in Bunner's body. Birmingham grabbed appellant and ejected him from the apartment.
At approximately 3:40 a.m., two Cleveland police officers were patrolling Bridge Avenue in a police cruiser when they observed a blue vehicle being driven backwards on Bridge Avenue with its headlights off. The officers attempted to stop the vehicle, and a high-speed chase ensued when the driver of the vehicle failed to stop. During the chase, the officers never lost sight of the vehicle except, perhaps, for a few seconds. The officers never saw anyone in the vehicle except the driver. No one exited the vehicle during the chase. The chase ended when the driver of the blue vehicle crashed into the side of a funeral chapel. The officers removed the driver from the vehicle and placed him on the ground. Both officers identified appellant as the driver of the vehicle.
Shortly after the accident, Cleveland police officers Stansic and Kukula arrived at the crash site and saw a man lying on the ground with police officers standing over him. However, officers Stansic and Kukula left the accident scene almost immediately thereafter in response to a radio call regarding the shooting at the Bridge Avenue apartment.
Upon arriving at the apartment, officers Stansic and Kukula interviewed Hatch and Birmingham who provided the officers with a description of Bunner's assailant. The officers recognized the witnesses' description as meeting the description of the man they had observed at the accident *178 scene. The officers asked Birmingham to accompany them to the hospital where the man had been transported following the accident. At the hospital, Birmingham identified appellant as Bunner's assailant.
Bunner died as a result of a gunshot wound to the chest. An autopsy revealed that Bunner was shot twice, once in the chest and once in the pubic region. Both bullets were recovered from the body.
Police officers retraced the chase scene and found a .25 caliber automatic pistol which was later identified as appellant's. The weapon was test-fired and the test bullets were compared to the bullets found in Bunner's body. The test bullets and the bullets retrieved from Bunner's body had the same characteristics, and test casings matched spent bullet casings found at the murder scene.

*1288 (Ellipsis sic.) State v. Bonnell , 61 Ohio St.3d 179 , 179-180, 573 N.E.2d 1082 (1991).

{¶ 3} On March 3, 1988, a jury found Bonnell guilty of aggravated burglary and two counts of aggravated murder with specifications, and it recommended a sentence of death, which the trial court imposed.

{¶ 4} The Eighth District Court of Appeals affirmed in part. It sustained Bonnell's convictions for aggravated burglary and aggravated murder, held that the two aggravated murder counts should have been merged for sentencing purposes but determined that the error was harmless, and also vacated Bonnell's prison sentence for aggravated burglary because the record did not demonstrate that he was present in court when it was imposed but remanded for a new sentencing hearing on that count. 8th Dist. Cuyahoga No. 55927, 1989 WL 117828 (Oct. 5, 1989).

{¶ 5} In a separate entry, the court of appeals affirmed the capital sentence. 1989 WL 117830 (Oct. 5, 1989). On further appeal, we affirmed the aggravated murder conviction and capital sentence, finding the evidence of guilt to be "overwhelming." 61 Ohio St.3d at 183 , 573 N.E.2d 1082 .

Petitions for collateral relief

{¶ 6} On March 16, 1995, Bonnell filed a 53-count petition for postconviction relief. He alleged that the state had violated Brady v. Maryland ,

Related

State v. Riley
Ohio Court of Appeals, 2026
State v. Jones
2025 Ohio 1926 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2025)
State v. Lockhart
2022 Ohio 3192 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2022)
State v. Moten
2021 Ohio 233 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2021)
State v. Mason
2020 Ohio 6895 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2020)
State v. Bonnell
2019 Ohio 5342 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2019)
State v. Wilson
2018 Ohio 5166 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2018)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2018 Ohio 4069, 119 N.E.3d 1285, 155 Ohio St. 3d 176, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-bonnell-slip-opinion-ohio-2018.