State v. Bradford

101 N.E.3d 710, 2018 Ohio 1417
CourtCourt of Appeals of Ohio, Eighth District, Cuyahoga County
DecidedApril 12, 2018
DocketNo. 105199
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 101 N.E.3d 710 (State v. Bradford) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Ohio, Eighth District, Cuyahoga County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Bradford, 101 N.E.3d 710, 2018 Ohio 1417 (Ohio Super. Ct. 2018).

Opinion

ANITA LASTER MAYS, P.J.:

*712{¶ 1} Defendant-appellant Maurice L. Bradford ("appellant") appeals his bench trial convictions for two felonies of the third degree: shooting a firearm over a public road with gun specifications, and having a weapon while under disability. Appellant was sentenced to a prison term of four years and nine months.1 We reverse the judgment of the trial court and vacate the convictions.

I. Background and Facts

A. Cuyahoga C.P. No. CR-15-600941-D

{¶ 2} Appellant, generally known by the nickname "T. Bear," short for "Teddy Bear," was originally indicted on August 17, 2015, in Cuyahoga C.P. No. CR-15-598409-A as part of an 85-count secret indictment naming 17 individuals. The case was dismissed and reindicted in Cuyahoga C.P. No. CR-15-600941-D charging appellant and codefendants Andre Ingram ("Ingram"); Bradford's brothers, Bradley Bradford ("Bradley") and Lawrence Black ("Black"); and Edwina Neal ("Neal"), the mother of the three brothers, with counts relating to several shooting incidents. The counts included charges of gang activity ("Gang Case "). Appellant was named in a single incident charged in the Gang Case.

{¶ 3} The indictments related to a series of shootings allegedly related to gang activity between the Broadway Gang ("Broadway") and Fleet Boys ("Fleet") from January to November 2015. The gangs' names were adopted based on the geographic areas in the southeast area of Cleveland in which the members resided.

B. Cuyahoga C.P. No. CR-16-604662-A

{¶ 4} On March 23, 2016, a 10-count indictment was issued against appellant in Cuyahoga C.P. No. CR-16-604662 ("Superior Case "). The state alleged that on July 3, 2015, appellant was involved "in a gun battle with another vehicle" in the area of Superior Avenue and East 92nd Street, causing injury to the hand of a seven-year-old boy. (Tr. 124.) Appellant was charged with attempted murder, two counts of felonious assault, two counts of discharge of firearm on prohibited premises, four counts of improperly discharging a firearm into a habitation, and one count of having a weapon while under disability.

{¶ 5} At the time of the indictment, appellant was awaiting sentencing for a guilty plea entered on April 14, 2015, to a fifth-degree felony drug possession ( R.C. 2925.11(A) ) in Cuyahoga C.P. No. CR-14-584927. The case was assigned to the mental health and developmental disabilities docket based on the medical report of Dr. Michael Aronoff upon examining appellant. Appellant was prescribed Risperdal and Lexapro. Sentencing for that case was stayed until the time of the verdict in the instant case.2

*713{¶ 6} On September 14, 2016, Ingram, Neal, Bradley, Black, and appellant signed jury waivers. Neal entered a guilty plea to Count 46 of the Gang Case indictment for improper handling of firearms in a motor vehicle. The indictment stated that on July 6, 2015, Neal knowingly transported a loaded .40 caliber Smith & Wesson handgun in a 2004 black Ford SUV that was accessible to any individual in the vehicle ( R.C. 2923.16(B) ), a fourth-degree felony. The weapon and vehicle were forfeited, and the remaining charges dismissed. Neal was sentenced on October 31, 2016, to community control with conditions.

{¶ 7} Nineteen-year-old Ingram entered a guilty plea to Count 1, participating in a criminal gang ( R.C. 2923.42(A) ), a second-degree felony, and Count 24, felonious assault ( R.C. 2903.11(A)(2) ), a second-degree felony, with a three-year firearm specification. The five-year agreed sentence ran consecutive to Ingram's then current five-year sentence in State v. Ingram , Cuyahoga C.P. No. CR-15-598906, for felonious assault ( R.C. 2903.11(A)(1) ). The remaining charges were dismissed. Ingram did not agree to testify against the remaining defendants.

{¶ 8} Appellant, Bradley, and Black rejected plea deals involving 5- to 15-year-incarceration-recommendations in the Gang Case. (Cuyahoga C.P. No. CR-15-600941.) The Gang Case and the Superior Case against appellant only (Cuyahoga C.P. No. CR-16-604662) were consolidated for purposes of the bench trial. The majority of the evidence related to codefendants Bradley and Black.

{¶ 9} The trial court held that appellant was not guilty of all counts in the Gang Case , including finding that appellant was not a participant in a criminal gang, as even "the state's own witnesses suggested otherwise." (Tr. 1487.)

C. Superior Case

{¶ 10} In light of appellant's exoneration in the Gang Case , we focus our analysis on the evidence pertinent to the convictions underlying the instant appeal in the Superior Case .

{¶ 11} Fred Booker ("Booker") testified as part of a plea agreement. Booker stated that he would "hang out" with individuals in the Fleet gang including Black and Bradley, but as to appellant "Teddy Bear," Booker stated:

PROSECUTOR: How about Maurice Bradford?
BOOKER: Yeah, I be around him but I never sincerely, like we never hung out together, like was in the streets together.
PROSECUTOR: All right. So he was different than the other ones you hung out with?
BOOKER: Yeah.

(Tr. 584.)

{¶ 12} Booker confirmed during cross-examination that appellant did not hang out with the group. Appellant was never involved in discussions about shooting or retaliating, and was devoted to caring for his brother Larry Bradford, a wheelchair bound paraplegic, and appellant's two children. Booker never heard appellant talk about having or using guns or saw him with one.

{¶ 13} Booker was aware that appellant had been shot at several times.

COUNSEL: And do you know why he's been shot at?
BOOKER: Because he be with-around Fleet and his family from Fleet.
COUNSEL: Okay. Do you know of him ever shooting back at anybody?
*714BOOKER: No.

(Tr. 670.)

{¶ 14} Eight-year-old victim E.J. testified that he was playing outside in the street and on the sidewalks with his siblings and friends on July 3, 2015, near his former residence on East 92nd Street just south of Superior Avenue. The children heard "pops" and "whistles," and E.J.'s father yelled at them to duck and run. (Tr. 882.) E.J. was running toward his father who was in front of their house when he saw blood on his right hand.

{¶ 15} Traffic proceeding on East 92nd Street is limited to one-way, northbound only. E.J. did not see a car drive down his street in the wrong direction, but he did see a car turn right at the first two-way street at the southerly end of his block. E.J. did not see the car pass him on the street. There was no cross-examination of E.J.'s testimony.

{¶ 16} On July 3, 2015, nurse Oina Friedman ("Friedman") was attending a barbeque at the home of his friend, Andre, who lived several houses south of E.J.'s residence. Andre is also E.J.'s uncle.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
101 N.E.3d 710, 2018 Ohio 1417, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-bradford-ohctapp8cuyahog-2018.