State v. Ojile

2023 Ohio 4277
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 29, 2023
DocketC-230032
StatusPublished

This text of 2023 Ohio 4277 (State v. Ojile) 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. Ojile, 2023 Ohio 4277 (Ohio Ct. App. 2023).

Opinion

[Cite as State v. Ojile, 2023-Ohio-4277.]

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT OF OHIO HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO

STATE OF OHIO, : APPEAL NO. C-230032 TRIAL NO. B-1007149C Plaintiff-Appellee, :

vs. : O P I N I O N.

UGBE OJILE, :

Defendant-Appellant. :

Criminal Appeal From: Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas

Judgment Appealed From Is: Affirmed in Part, Reversed in Part, and Cause Remanded

Date of Judgment Entry on Appeal: November 29, 2023

Melissa Powers, Hamilton County Prosecuting Attorney, and Keith Sauter, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for Plaintiff-Appellee,

The Olawale Law Firm, LLC, and Emmanuel Olawale, for Defendant-Appellant. OHIO FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEALS

BOCK, Judge.

{¶1} Defendant-appellant Ugbe Ojile appeals the Hamilton County Court of

Common Pleas’ judgment denying his Crim.R. 33(A)(6) motion for a new trial on

several charges related to Ojile’s and his codefendant’s participation in a string of

robberies targeting casino patrons. In his motion for a new trial, supported by

affidavits from his codefendant and a jailhouse informant, as well as a judgment entry

of acquittal of one of the robberies charged under a different case number, Ojile now

challenges four of his convictions: three for aggravated robbery and one for conspiracy

to commit aggravated robbery.

{¶2} Because we hold that the common pleas court erroneously denied Ojile’s

motion for a new trial with respect to the aggravated robbery of Daniel1 Duncan, we

reverse the court’s judgment in part and remand the cause for a new trial on that

charge only. We affirm the lower court’s judgment in all other respects.

Facts and Procedure

{¶3} Following a 2011 bench trial, the trial court convicted Ojile of multiple

counts of aggravated robbery, robbery, complicity to robbery, and conspiracy to

commit aggravated robbery under two case numbers. At trial, the state submitted

evidence demonstrating that Ojile and his codefendant, Kenyatta Erkins, had worked

together to target patrons of two gambling casinos. Erkins would enter the casino and

look for “targets” who had won large sums of cash while Ojile waited in a car in the

parking garage. Once they acquired their targets, Erkins and Ojile would follow them

from the casino to their residences and rob them at gunpoint. Amy Hoover, the mother

of one of Erkins’s children, participated in a few of these robberies.

1 Daniel Duncan’s first name has been spelled “Danielle” in other documents within the record, but we are following the spelling of his name as set forth in Ojile’s indictment for this crime.

2 OHIO FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEALS

{¶4} After this court’s opinion on direct appeal and on appeal from the denial

of Ojile’s 2016 postconviction petition, Ojile stood convicted of four counts of

aggravated robbery, five counts of complicity, and a single count of conspiracy in the

case numbered B-1007149 and one count of robbery in the case numbered B-

1006797C. State v. Ojile, 1st Dist. Hamilton Nos. C-110677 and C-100678, 2012-Ohio-

6015 (“Ojile I”); State v. Ojile, 1st Dist. Hamilton No. C-160425, 2017-Ohio-9319

(“Ojile II”).

The Trial

{¶5} The state tried Ojile and Erkins together. Hoover accepted a plea deal

from the state in exchange for her testimony at their bench trial. She testified that she

had only participated in three robberies and, thus, could only provide information as

to those crimes. Tyrone Tanks, a jailhouse informant incarcerated with Ojile in the

Hamilton County Justice Center, testified at trial that Ojile had confessed his

involvement in several of the robberies for which he had been charged. Relevant to

this appeal are Ojile’s convictions related to the 2010 aggravated robberies of Michael

Weisbrod, Daniel Duncan, Tien Dao, and Kiran Racheria.

Michael Weisbrod

{¶6} Weisbrod was robbed twice. Because Ojile argues that his acquittal of

Weisbrod’s first robbery impacts his motion for a new trial related to the second

robbery, we discuss both.

Weisbrod’s first robbery

{¶7} Ojile, Erkins, and Hoover were charged with robbing Weisbrod in

February 2009. At trial, Weisbrod testified that he had left a casino on February 9,

2009, with more than $8,000 in cash and returned to his apartment in the early

3 OHIO FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEALS

morning hours of February 10. Video from the casino’s security camera showed Erkins

following Weisbrod that night.

{¶8} After Weisbrod had returned home, a woman knocked on his door and

asked him if anyone was living in the apartment downstairs. Weisbrod told her, “No,”

and she left. On the night of February 10, a man came to Weisbrod’s door, asked the

same question, and received the same response. Then, Weisbrod testified, on the night

of February 11, he was in the basement of his apartment building, checking for the

cause of a power outage, when a man and woman confronted him, tied him up, and

demanded to know where the money was in his apartment. The robbers left with

Weisbrod’s car keys, cell phone, and more than $8,000 in cash.

{¶9} Hoover testified at trial that she, Olije, and Erkins had participated in

this robbery. Tanks testified that Ojile had provided him with a detailed account of this

night and had said that he was not concerned with this charge because he had an

airline ticket showing that he was in New York City at the time of the robbery.

According to Tanks, Ojile also said that he had never boarded the flight and was going

to use that airline ticket to create a false alibi.

{¶10} Ojile, Erkins, and Hoover were convicted of the 2009 robbery. But

following postconviction proceedings, Ojile was acquitted of this crime after

submitting an affidavit from a United Airlines record custodian attesting that Ojile had

boarded the flights to and from New York City.

Weisbrod’s second robbery

{¶11} In April 2010, Weisbrod was again robbed of a large sum of money upon

his return home from a casino late at night. He testified that two men assaulted him

on his front porch. They ordered Weisbrod to his knees and pointed a gun at him. After

4 OHIO FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEALS

taking his money, the attackers drove away in a white SUV. Weisbrod testified that he

could see his attackers and had told investigating officers that he would be able to

identify them if he saw them again. He explained that the porchlight had been on and

the men were not wearing masks.

{¶12} About six months after the April 2010 robbery, police arrested Ojile,

Erkins, and Hoover for a string of robberies. After the television news displayed

pictures of the three suspects, Weisbrod contacted police to inform them that he

recognized Hoover as the woman who had knocked on his door shortly before the

February 2009 robbery. Further, during the police investigation and in court, he

identified Ojile and Erkins as the two men who had robbed him in April 2010.

{¶13} The trial court convicted Ojile for the April 2010 robbery. Ojile now

challenges this conviction in his motion for a new trial.

Daniel Duncan

{¶14} Duncan testified at trial that he was a “professional gambler” and that

he had seen Erkins and Ojile together at a casino on several occasions. In April 2010,

Duncan left a casino to return home to his apartment in the Oakley neighborhood of

Cincinnati.

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Related

Neil v. Biggers
409 U.S. 188 (Supreme Court, 1972)
State v. Ojile
2012 Ohio 6015 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2012)
State v. Petro
76 N.E.2d 370 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1947)
Kenyatta Erkins v. Rick Chuvalas
684 F. App'x 493 (Sixth Circuit, 2017)
State v. Ojile
2017 Ohio 9319 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2017)
Giancola v. Azem (Slip Opinion)
2018 Ohio 1694 (Ohio Supreme Court, 2018)
State v. Ojile
2021 Ohio 2955 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2021)
State v. LaMar
767 N.E.2d 166 (Ohio Supreme Court, 2002)
State v. LaMar
2002 Ohio 2128 (Ohio Supreme Court, 2002)

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2023 Ohio 4277, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-ojile-ohioctapp-2023.