State v. Crago

639 N.E.2d 801, 93 Ohio App. 3d 621, 1994 Ohio App. LEXIS 774
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 1, 1994
DocketNo. 92AP-542.
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 639 N.E.2d 801 (State v. Crago) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Crago, 639 N.E.2d 801, 93 Ohio App. 3d 621, 1994 Ohio App. LEXIS 774 (Ohio Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

Deshler, Judge.

This is an appeal by defendant, Martin Douglas Crago, from a judgment of conviction and sentence of life imprisonment entered by the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas following a jury trial in which defendant was found guilty of aggravated murder.

On January 24, 1986, defendant was indicted on three counts of aggravated murder, each with death penalty specifications, one count of aggravated robbery and one count of aggravated kidnapping. Count one of the indictment alleged that defendant purposely committed murder with prior calculation and design. Count two alleged that defendant committed aggravated murder during the commission of an aggravated robbery. Count three alleged that defendant *625 committed murder during the commission of a kidnapping. The counts charging robbery and kidnapping both carried firearm specifications.

The charges from the indictment arose from the shooting death of Edward Murray, an employee of Snap-on-Tool, Inc. Murray sold Snap-on-Tool products to mechanics, operating out of a delivery van which he set up as a mobile showroom. It was undisputed that on January 17, 1986, defendant shot Murray. On that date, defendant had contacted Murray by telephone and arranged to meet with him at the Great Southern Shopping Center, located in Franklin County. Defendant and an accomplice, Mark Loel, planned to rob Murray of the tools in the van. When Murray arrived at the shopping center, defendant entered the van and initiated a conversation with Murray. Defendant was carrying a handgun in his pocket. While in the van, defendant shot Murray twice in the head.

Following the shooting, defendant drove the van to a site in Pickaway County, where he unloaded the tools. Defendant then drove the van to a rural location in Pickaway County, where he abandoned the van and the victim, who was still alive. In the late afternoon of January 18,1986, the van and Murray were discovered by a nearby resident. Murray was transported to a hospital, where he died later that day.

Defendant was arrested on January 21, 1986. At the time of his arrest, defendant made two statements to authorities in which he confessed to the shooting of Murray. Defendant was subsequently indicted on one other count of aggravated robbery, unrelated to the incident involving Murray. More specifically, the subsequent count involved the robbery of David Pratt, an independent owner-operator of a Mac-Tool truck, which occurred three days prior to the killing of Murray.

The original trial of this matter was set for August 1986. At the commencement of trial, the state dismissed the first count of the indictment involving the killing of Murray, ie., aggravated murder with prior calculation and design. The counts of the indictment were subsequently renumbered. The court also, upon the motion of defense counsel, consolidated the count involving the aggravated robbery of Pratt with the other counts involving Murray.

During opening statements, defense counsel informed the jury that defendant was not maintaining his innocence. Specifically, defense counsel stated during opening statements that defendant was guilty of the aggravated robberies, the offense of kidnapping and that defendant had caused the death of Murray. Counsel told the jury, however, that the matter for their determination was “whether this is a capital murder case or a murder case.”

*626 The jury returned verdicts finding defendant guilty of aggravated robbery in the incident involving Pratt, and guilty of both the aggravated robbery and kidnapping of Murray. The jury found defendant not guilty of aggravated murder during the commission of a kidnapping, but guilty of the lesser included offense of involuntary manslaughter. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on the count of aggravated murder during the commission of an aggravated robbery. The trial court declared a mistrial as to that count and dismissed the jury. The trial court sentenced defendant to serve consecutive terms of ten to twenty-five years on each of the four convictions as well as three additional years for use of a firearm, to be served consecutively to the other sentences.

Defendant filed a timely notice of appeal from the convictions and sentence. In State v. Crago (Aug. 2, 1988), Franklin App. Nos. 86AP-945 and 86AP-946, unreported, 1988 WL 81833, this court affirmed the decision of the trial court.

The state subsequently sought to retry defendant on the remaining count for aggravated murder committed during the commission of aggravated robbery which had resulted in a mistrial. On February 19,1987, defendant filed a motion to dismiss the remaining count on the basis of double jeopardy. Specifically, defendant contended that the two counts of aggravated murder on which he was previously brought to trial were based upon, and charged, the same conduct. Defendant further asserted that even if retrial of the remaining count was permitted, the doctrine of collateral estoppel barred relitigation between the parties of the issue whether the death was the result of a purposeful killing. The trial court overruled defendant’s motion, concluding that the jury’s deadlock as to the murder-robbery count, along with the return of a lesser included verdict concerning the murder-kidnapping count, indicated that the jury decided the murder-kidnapping count “on some issue other than purpose to kill.”

Defendant filed an appeal from the judgment of the trial court overruling defendant’s motion to dismiss. In State v. Crago (Sept. 22, 1988), Franklin App. No. 87AP-394, unreported 1988 WL 99349, (“Crago I”), this court affirmed in part and reversed in part the judgment of the trial court. This court’s opinion rejected defendant’s double jeopardy/collateral estoppel arguments, except to the extent that upon remand, the trial court was instructed to strike the third specification (alleging that the murder was committed during the course of the kidnapping) from the indictment.

Defendant appealed this court’s decision to the Ohio Supreme Court, which granted leave to appeal. Following oral argument, the court requested that the parties brief the issue of “whether denial of a motion to dismiss a charge on the basis of double jeopardy is a final appealable order in accordance with the criteria set forth in R.C. 2505.02.” State v. Crago (1990), 48 Ohio St.3d 708, 550 N.E.2d 480. In State v. Crago (1990), 53 Ohio St.3d 243, 559 N.E.2d 1353, paragraph one *627 of the syllabus, certiorari denied (1991), 499 U.S. -, 111 S.Ct. 1399, 113 L.Ed.2d 454, the court held that “[t]he overruling of a motion to dismiss on the ground of double jeopardy is not a final appealable order.” Accordingly, the court held that “appellant’s claims of double jeopardy were never properly before the court of appeals and, consequently, we vacate the judgment of the appellate court.” Id., 53 Ohio St.3d at 245, 559 N.E.2d at 1355-1356. In light of the procedural disposition of the case, the court determined that “it is not now necessary for this court to rule on appellant’s claim that his retrial is prohibited.” Id. Defendant filed a motion for rehearing which was subsequently overruled. State v. Crago

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Bluebook (online)
639 N.E.2d 801, 93 Ohio App. 3d 621, 1994 Ohio App. LEXIS 774, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-crago-ohioctapp-1994.