State v. Lane

361 N.E.2d 535, 50 Ohio App. 2d 41, 4 Ohio Op. 3d 24, 1976 WL 190287, 1976 Ohio App. LEXIS 5842
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 14, 1976
Docket76AP-100
StatusPublished
Cited by76 cases

This text of 361 N.E.2d 535 (State v. Lane) 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. Lane, 361 N.E.2d 535, 50 Ohio App. 2d 41, 4 Ohio Op. 3d 24, 1976 WL 190287, 1976 Ohio App. LEXIS 5842 (Ohio Ct. App. 1976).

Opinion

Whiteside, J.

Defendant appeals from his conviction of aggravated burglary in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas and raises the following seven assignments of error in support of his appeal:

1. “The trial court committed reversible error in refusing to charge on the lesser included offenses of breaking and entering and criminal trespass after being specifically requested to do so by the defendant.”

2. “The trial court committed reversible error in failing to apply the correct test as to the quantum of evidence required in ruling upon a motion made by.defendant’s counsel pursuant to Eule 29 of the Ohio Eules of Criminal Procedure at the conclusion of the prosecution’s case.”

3. “The trial court committed reversible error by failing to properly charge the jury as to the correct statutory definition of the term force as an element of the offense of aggravated burglary.”

4. “Section • 2911.11 of the Ohio Eevise.d . Code,, entitled Aggravated Burglary, is unconstitutional in violation *42 of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Due Process Clause insofar as it is applied requiring the element ' of stealth as' an essential element of the case and where such essential element is not defined in the Revised Code of Ohio, it fails to put the defendant on notice as to what conduct constitutes an offense and is further in violation of. Section 2901.03 of the Ohio Revised Code which abrogates common law offenses. Further, the trial court improperly defined stealth as an element of' aggravated burglary to the defendant’s prejudice.”

'5. “Where a warrant for the defendant’s arrest is filed during June of a particular year and no reasonable diligence is exercised by the prosecution in executing such warrant until some five months later, and where the defendant was readily available to the prosecution, had the prosecution exercised such reasonable diligence and further where: such failure to exercise such reasonable diligence results in a length of delay which causes 'prejudice to the defendant’s case, the defendant has been denied his right to a speedy trial as is guaranteed by Article I, Section 10 of the Constitution of the State of Ohio, and the Sixth and Fourteenth' Amendments of the Constitution of the United States.”

6. “Error is committed to the prejudice of the defendant where-the prosecution, during voir dire examination of the jurors, specifically represents to the said jurors that the prosecution is not bound to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt in the criminal case, as such burden is1 impossible ■ to meet, and extracts commitments from said jurors that said jurors will not hold the prosecution to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt and further when the prosecution represents to the jurors that it is not held to'a higher burden of proof than that of beyond a reasonable-doubt when clearly there is no higher burden of proof recognized anywhere in our system of jurisprudence, the defendant’s case is irreparably prejudiced and a new trial.is required.”

7. “Where the evidence relating to an essential element of the crime charged in an indictment is based upon cirCurnstantial evidence is contradicted by direct' evidence, *43 and where snch circumstantial evidence is consistent with a reasonable theory of the defendant’s innocence, a conviction for such crime is against the manifest weight of the evidence and constitutes reversible error.”

The victim of the alleged crime testified that at about 9:30 a. m., December 30, 1974, he awakened to discover a man taking some money out of his wallet which he had left in his pants pocket hanging on a valet around the bed in which he was lying. The man put the wallet back in the victim’s pants pocket and said, “just visiting,” and turned around and walked out. The victim found the door to his apartment open and several items from the apartment stacked by the door.

The victim had locked the door the previous night; however, a lady friend had spent the night with him and had left earlier that morning. The victim testified that the lady friend had left the door to his apartment shut but unlocked because she had her arms full. The lady friend did not testify.

After reporting the incident to the police, the victim was shown a book of approximately 240 photographs but was unable to make an identification. Several months later, the victim observed the man he had seen in his apartment leaving an adjacent building. After reporting this to the police, on June 25, 1975, the victim was shown a book containing some 280 photographs and identified a photograph of defendant as being that of the man that had been in his apartment the previous December.

By the first assignment of error, defendant contends that the trial court erred in refusing to charge the jury as to the claimed lesser included offenses of breaking and entering and criminal trespass.

Defendant was convicted of aggravated burglary, which R. C. 2911.11(A) defines with reference to this case, as follows:

“(A) No person, by force, stealth, or deception, shall trespass in an occupied structure as defined in section 2909.-01 of the Revised Code, or in a separately secured or separately occupied portion thereof, with purpose to commit therein any theft offense as defined in section 2913.01 of *44 the Revised Code, or any felony,- when any of the following apply: * * *
“ (3) The occupied structure involved is the permanent or temporary habitation of any person, in which at the time any person is present or likely- to be present. ’ ’

Criminal trespass as could be pertinent to this case is defined by R. C. 2911.21(A)(1), as follows:

“(A) No person, without privilege to do so, shall do any of the following:
“ (1) Knowingly enter or remain on the land or premises of another * *

R. C. 2911.13 defines breaking and entering, in part, as follows:

“(A) No person by force, stealth, or deception, shall trespass in an unoccupied structure, with purpose to commit therein any theft offense as defined in section 2913.01 of the Revised Code, or any felony.
“ (B) No person shall trespass on the land or premises of another, with purpose to commit a felony.”

Clearly, it would not have been proper to have charged the jury upon criminal trespass. The evidence is clear that defendant, if the perpetrator of the crime, intended to commit a theft offense. The evidence would not have permitted the jury properly to have found that defendant merely entered the apartment without permission.

As to breaking and entering, as defined by R. C. 2911.-13(A), a charge upon a lesser included offense would not have been proper since the evidence clearly indicates that the apartment was an occupied, not an unoccupied structure which is one distinguishing feature between R. C. 2911.13(A) and R. C. 2911.11(A). Defendant contended at trial that the court should have charged upon R. C. 2911.-13(B), contending that the distinguishing feature was whether or not force, stealth, or deception was used by defendant in entering the apartment.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
361 N.E.2d 535, 50 Ohio App. 2d 41, 4 Ohio Op. 3d 24, 1976 WL 190287, 1976 Ohio App. LEXIS 5842, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-lane-ohioctapp-1976.