State v. Henry

523 N.E.2d 877, 37 Ohio App. 3d 3, 1987 Ohio App. LEXIS 10557
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 5, 1987
DocketWD-86-30
StatusPublished
Cited by33 cases

This text of 523 N.E.2d 877 (State v. Henry) 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. Henry, 523 N.E.2d 877, 37 Ohio App. 3d 3, 1987 Ohio App. LEXIS 10557 (Ohio Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

Resnick, J.

This cause is before the court on appeal from the April 18, 1986 judgment of the Wood County Court of Common Pleas. Defendant-appellant, Patrick Henry (hereinafter “appellant”), was indicted by the Wood County Grand Jury on November 8,1985 on one count of kidnapping, one count of rape committed as a principal offender, one count of rape as aider and abettor of Lamont Walker, and three counts of rape as aider and abettor of Troy Hill.

The prosecutor filed a motion for joinder and the trial court granted the motion on February 13, 1986. A joint jury trial was held for appellant and co- *4 defendants Walker and Hill. Appellant was found guilty of all five counts of rape and the count of kidnapping. Judgment was entered accordingly and appellant was sentenced on April 18, 1986. Appellant filed a timely notice of appeal and asserts the following assignments of error:

“First Assignment of Error
“The trial court committed reversible error when it compelled defendant to stand trial jointly with co-defendants Hill and Walker.
“Second Assignment of Error
“The trial court committed reversible error when it permitted the victim of the alleged offenses to attempt an in-court identification of defendant.
“Third Assignment of Error
“The trial court committed reversible error when it failed to order the prosecuting attorney to deliver to defendant the written or recorded statements, written summaries of oral statements, or recorded grand jury testimony of Floyd Boatman, an [sic] co-defendant.
“Fourth Assignment of Error
“The trial court committed reversible error when it failed to order the prosecuting attorney to deliver to the court for in camera inspection all of the written or recorded statements of the alleged victim, as required by Crim. R. (B)(1)(g) [sic, 16(B)(1)(g)].
“Fifth Assignment of Error
“The trial court erred in the sentence imposed upon defendant.
“A. Defendant received multiple sentence^] for allied offenses of similar import, committed with a single animus.
“B. The minimum term of imprisonment in the sentence imposed upon defendant exceeded the maximum permitted by R.C. 2929.41(E)(2).
“C. The sentence of the trial court was not based upon a consideration of factors required to be considered by the court pursuant to R.C. 2929.12.
“Sixth Assigment of Error
“The cumulative effect of the trial court’s errors deprived defendant of a fair trial.”

The evidence as presented at trial showed that appellant met with a number of other people at the Studio One parking lot in Toledo, Ohio, on the evening of October 25,1985. Several of the people there decided to attend a party in Bowling Green, Ohio. Appellant rode to Bowling Green in Hill’s automobile with Hill, Walker and Greg Files. Upon arriving in Bowling Green, appellant and several others stood outside the party talking. Between midnight and 1:00 a.m., appellant, Hill, Walker and Floyd Boatman left the party. They went to a parking lot in Bowling Green where they abducted a Bowling Green State University student. The victim was placed in the automobile and driven from Bowling Green to Toledo on country roads. She was raped repeatedly by at least three of the men in the automobile during that time. After the rapes were completed, she was returned to Bowling Green. Within moments of being released she was found by Bowling Green State University police officers. A bulletin was immediately dispatched to all police officers which described the automobile used in the abduction and rapes and which stated that four black men were in the automobile. The bulletin was subsequently revised to indicate that only three black men were in the automobile.

An automobile matching the dispatched description was located at a Bowling Green gas station within moments of the initial dispatch. The automobile contained three black men. The officer who located the automobile followed it onto 1-75 prior to stopping it. After the officer approached the automobile, the driver sped away and a high speed chase ensued. The chase involved speeds in excess of one hundred and ten miles per hour and at least six *5 police units. The police were not able to stop the vehicle and it was later located in Toledo.

Appellant asserts in his first assignment of error that the trial court erred in granting the prosecution’s motion to try appellant jointly with co-defendants Hill and Walker. The basis for this argument is the contention that the joint trial violated the United States Supreme Court’s holding in Bruton v. United States (1968), 391 U.S. 123. The Supreme Court held in Bruton that:

“* * * the admission of a confession of a codefendant who did not take the stand deprived the defendant of his rights under the Sixth Amendment Confrontation Clause, when that confession implicated the defendant. * * *” Schneble v. Florida (1972), 405 U.S. 427, 429-430.

It appears from a review of the record that statements of co-defendants Hill and Walker may have been admitted in violation of Bruton, supra. For example, Hill made statements to the investigator for the Wood County Prosecutor’s office and to FBI agents in Alabama that he went to a party in Bowling Green on the night of October 25 with appellant, Walker and Greg Files. Hill further stated that appellant, Walker, Boatman and he left the party at approximately midnight to get beer. Additionally, Hill admitted that he was the driver of the vehicle involved in the high speed chase. These statements may be in violation of Bru-ton, supra; however, reversal is not necessarily mandated.

Both the United States and Ohio Supreme Courts have held that Bruton violations do not automatically require reversal of a conviction. In Harrington v. California (1969), 395 U.S. 250, the United States Supreme Court held that even though evidence obtained from co-defendants’ confessions was admitted, the evidence from sources other than the confessions was so overwhelming that any violation of Bruton was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Id. at 254. The United States Supreme Court relied on Harrington. and reached a similar conclusion in Schneble, supra:

“The mere finding of a violation of the Bruton rule in the course of the trial, however, does not automatically require reversal of the ensuing criminal conviction.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
523 N.E.2d 877, 37 Ohio App. 3d 3, 1987 Ohio App. LEXIS 10557, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-henry-ohioctapp-1987.