State v. Mabry

449 N.E.2d 16, 5 Ohio App. 3d 13, 5 Ohio B. 14, 1982 Ohio App. LEXIS 11017
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 15, 1982
Docket43649
StatusPublished
Cited by68 cases

This text of 449 N.E.2d 16 (State v. Mabry) 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. Mabry, 449 N.E.2d 16, 5 Ohio App. 3d 13, 5 Ohio B. 14, 1982 Ohio App. LEXIS 11017 (Ohio Ct. App. 1982).

Opinions

Ann McManamon, J.

Danny Mabry, the appellant, and two friends, James Young and Clint Walker, were riding around in the city of Cleveland in Walker’s car during the early morning hours of May 27, 1980 when one of them suggested that- they rob the East 4th Street Bookstore. Walker drove them to the bookstore and once inside, appellant remained in the front, while Young went to the rear movie cubicle area and Walker stood somewhere between the two. The events which then transpired resulted in the shooting death of the bookstore owner, Milton Goldstein, and serious physical injuries to a customer, Dr. Anthony Nakhle.

James Young, upon reaching the rear of the store, approached Nakhle, with a gun drawn, demanding the doctor’s money and personal effects. An altercation ensued during which Nakhle was shot. The sound of this backroom struggle alerted Goldstein, who ran to Nakhle’s assistance carrying a gun. Several shots were fired, one of which caused Goldstein’s death. James Young, who had himself been wounded, Clint Walker, and the appellant ran out of the store and drove away before police arrived.

Appellant was implicated in the incident through information provided to police by an informant and he was later arrested on a warrant at his grandmother’s house. Subsequent to his arrest, appellant made an oral and written statement to police in which he admitted his presence in the bookstore during the robbery and shooting, but he averred that he did not “go there to hurt no one.” He told police that he did not have a gun at the time of the robbery and that he “didn’t see any” guns on Walker or Young.

Appellant was convicted of the aggravated murder of Milton Goldstein, the attempted murder of Dr. Nakhle and aggravated robbery. Appellant’s motions for new trial and reconsideration were overruled by the trial court. Appellant appeals all three convictions and submits the following assignments of error:

“I The defendant was denied a fair trial by the refusal of the trial court to instruct the jury on the lesser included offense of involuntary manslaughter.
‘ TI. The defendant was denied a fair trial by the refusal of the trial court to instruct the jury on the lesser included offenses of felonious assault and aggravated assault.
“HI. The trial court committed reversible error by instructing the jury that they could find the defendant guilty if the state proved beyond a reasonable doubt that his accomplises [sic] possessed the requisite mental state.
“IV. The defendant was denied a fair trial by the trial court’s instructions on aiding and abetting.
“V. The defendant’s conviction for aggravated murder and attempted murder were based upon legally insufficient evidence and the trial court erred in not granting the defendant’s Rule 29 motion to acquit.
“VI. The admission into evidence of the defendant’s statement violated his right to counsel.
“VII. The defendant was denied a fair trial by the refusal of the trial court to allow a defense witness to testify.”

I

The court will first consider the third and fourth assignments of error in which appellant contends that the jury was improperly instructed on the three offenses with which he was charged.

Counsel for appellant submitted a motion for special jury instructions to the court regarding appellant’s intent to kill, which motion was heard and overruled.

Appellant was indicted for aiding and abetting aggravated murder. At trial, the court charged the jury on aggravated murder as follows:

“It must be established in this case *15 that at the time in question there was present in the mind of the defendant, or another or others whom he aided and abetted, specific intention to kill Milton Goldstein.” (Emphasis added.)

The court also gave the following charges on aiding and abetting:

“A person who knowingly and purposely aids, helps, assists or associates himself with another in the commission of a crime is regarded as if he were the principal offender and is just as guilty as if he, personally, performed every act constituting the offense.
“When two or more persons have a common purpose to commit a crime, and one does one part, and a second performs another, those acting together are equally guilty of the crime.
“Where two or more persons have a common -purpose to commit a crime and in a continuous sequence of events other crimes are committed, all said persons are responsible for all the crimes which happen in a continuous sequence of events even though all said persons were not physically present when the other crimes were committed.” (Emphasis added.)

The aggravated murder statute, R.C. 2903.01(B) 1 prohibits a person from “purposely causing the death of another while committing * * * a robbery.” “Purpose” under R.C. 2901.22(A) 2 is the specific intent to cause a certain harm. The Ohio complicity statute, R.C. 2923.03, under which appellant was charged as an aider and abettor provides in part:

“(A) No person, acting with the kind of culpability required for the commission of an offense, shall do any of the following:
(I* * *
“(2) Aid or abet another in committing the offense.”

In State v. Scott (1980), 61 Ohio St. 2d 155 [15 O.O.3d 182], the defendant was charged with kidnapping and aiding and abetting an aggravated murder. The court provided three considerations for a proper jury analysis of the required purpose to cause death on the part of an aider or abettor. The court held:

“A jury can infer an aider and abettor’s purpose to kill where the facts show that the participants in a felony entered into a common design and either the aider or abettor knew that an inherently dangerous instrumentality was to be employed to accomplish the felony, or the felony and the manner of its accomplishment would be reasonably likely to produce death.” Id. at 165.

During the trial in Scott, the court, in response to a jury question, stated that if the defendant was guilty of the crime of kidnapping and the victim died, even though defendant had no knowledge of or participation in the murder, he was also guilty of aiding and abetting the murder. The Supreme Court held that such instructions do not properly define purpose to kill, which is the specific intent required to convict an accused of murder. The Supreme Court in Scott noted that the instruction improperly relieved the state of its duty to prove defendant’s purpose to kill beyond a reasonable doubt.

In the instant case, the jury charge on aggravated murder, when read in conjunction with the charge on aiding and abetting, was improper. In essence, the jury was instructed that if appellant

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
449 N.E.2d 16, 5 Ohio App. 3d 13, 5 Ohio B. 14, 1982 Ohio App. LEXIS 11017, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-mabry-ohioctapp-1982.