State v. Edwards

358 N.E.2d 1051, 49 Ohio St. 2d 31, 3 Ohio Op. 3d 18, 1976 Ohio LEXIS 771
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 29, 1976
DocketNo. 76-38
StatusPublished
Cited by584 cases

This text of 358 N.E.2d 1051 (State v. Edwards) 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. Edwards, 358 N.E.2d 1051, 49 Ohio St. 2d 31, 3 Ohio Op. 3d 18, 1976 Ohio LEXIS 771 (Ohio 1976).

Opinion

O’Neitl, C. J.

Appellant presents 12 assignments of error (hereinafter referred to as “propositions of law”).

I.

In his fourth proposition of law, appellant contends that the trial court erred in finding that the state had presented sufficient evidence to show the commission of an [34]*34aggravated robbery prior to the admission of the appellant’s confession to that offense.

The relevant rule of law is found in State v. Maranda (1916), 94 Ohio St. 364, 114 N. E. 1038, as follows:

“1. By the corpus delicti of a crime is meant the body or substance of the crime, included in which are usually two elements: 1. The act. 2. The criminal agency of the act.
“2. It has long been established as a general rule in Ohio that there must be some evidence outside of a confession tending to establish the corpus delicti, before such confession is admissible. The quantum or weight of such outside or extraneous evidence is not of itself to be equal to proof beyond a reasonable doubt, nor even enough to make it a prima facie case. * * *”

Under count two of the indictment, the material elements of aggravated robbery relevant herein include the following: (1) without the owner’s consent, to obtain or exert control over the owner’s property, (2) a purpose to deprive the owner of his property, and (3) the defendant in the commission of the act or in fleeing immediately thereafter, either to have on or about his person or under his control a deadly weapon or dangerous ordnance as defined in R. C. 2923.11, or to inflict serious physical harm on another.

The defendant contends that “there is absolutely no evidence offered by the state that anything of value was ever taken from the decedent.” If not, the argument continues, excluding Edward’s confessions, “there was no evidence from which it can be said by clear and unequivocal proof that decedent was killed in the course of a robbery.” The defendant concludes that there was insufficient evidence to prove that an aggravated robbery was committed, for the following reasons: (1) the fact that the defendant was found without a wallet, when no evidence was presented that he even carried a wallet, cannot be said to be circumstantial evidence he was robbed, especially when it was discovered that the decedent did have money on his per[35]*35son, (2) the fact that a wallet was later found containing the decedent’s identification cards does not show the wallet was owned by the decedent, and (3) the evidence was not clear whether defendant was seen in the vicinity of the wallet before or after the decedent was found.

In rebuttal, the state emphasizes paragraph two of the syllabus in Maranda, supra. In order to make Edwards’ confession admissible, the state need only produce some evidence of the material elements listed above. “The quantum or weight of such outside or extraneous evidence is not of itself to be equal to proof beyond a reasonable doubt, nor even enough to make it a prima facie case.” Maranda, supra.

In the instant case, a few days following decedent’s •death a wallet was found in the basement of an apartment complex. The billfold contained some credit cards, identification papers and miscellaneous papers of the decedent, but no money. Considering those facts, the state concludes that sufficient evidence existed to establish the corpus •delicti of aggravated robbery.

The necessity of independently proving the corpus delicti to render admissible an extrajudicial confession is a well-established rule of evidence. Its origin is explained by Judge Wanamaker in State v. Maranda, supra, at page 370, as follows:

“This doctrine touching corpus delicti is of ancient •origin and was born out of great caution by the courts, in consideration of certain cases of homicide wherein it had turned out that by reason of a failure of the government to prove the death of the person charged as having been murdered it so happened that such person sometimes survived the person accused as his murderer. Therefore, the rule that there must be some evidence tending to prove the fact that death had actually ensued; which was later followed by an additional requirement of some evidence that that death was brought about by some criminal agency.”

Considering the revolution in criminal law of the [36]*361960’s and the vast number of procedural safeguards protecting the due-process rights of criminal defendants, the corpus .delicti rule is supported by few practical or social-policy considerations. This court sees little reason to apply the rule with a dogmatic vengeance.

In considering the minimal requirements of Maranda and in evaluating the evidence in light of the ordinary customs of our times, we conclude that the prosecution did produce some evidence tending to corroborate the material elements of aggravated robbery.

This proposition of law is not well taken.

H.

Talcing the remaining propositions of law in. their numerical sequence, we find in proposition of law No. 1 the claim that the trial court erred in “allow [ing] the prosecutor to receive a copy of a psychiatric examination prior to the trial and conviction of the defendant.”

After the defendant entered a not guilty plea, the trial court ordered a psychiatric evaluation of the defendant. During the examination, the defendant made several incriminating statements relating to his participation in the robbery and murder. A copy of this report was then given to the prosecutor.

Although the record is not clear, the trial court apparently ordered the examination to determine whether the defendant was competent to stand trial. Under R. C. 2945.37, such an order was proper. However, the court erred, the defendant alleges, in allowing the prosecution to receive a copy of the report before the defendant was tried and convicted. The defendant claims the error to have been prejudicial. At trial, testimony was offered by the state from detective Cross that Edwards slept in a basement of Edgewood Home Apartments.- The testimony, the defendant claims, was critically important in proving that Edwards was known to sleep where the wallet was found. Defendant further insists that detective Cross obtained this information from the psychiatric report. Without such testimony, the defendant continues, there would have been [37]*37insufficient evidence to render the defendant’s confession admissible; And without the confession, he concludes,-there was insufficient evidence to support the jury’s verdict.1

The state, in rebuttal, argues that the psychiatric report contained no evidence that had not already been uncovered by the police. The officers were aware of Gary Hendon, the custodian who found the billfold. The report, moreover, was never referred to in the presence Of the jury or introduced in evidence.

' The issue is whether the disclosure of the psychiatric report to the prosecutor, prior to trial, violated the defendant’s right against self-incrimination. Although this claim presents significant constitutional questions, it need not be addressed by this court.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
358 N.E.2d 1051, 49 Ohio St. 2d 31, 3 Ohio Op. 3d 18, 1976 Ohio LEXIS 771, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-edwards-ohio-1976.