State v. Orth

153 N.E.2d 394, 106 Ohio App. 35, 6 Ohio Op. 2d 300, 1957 Ohio App. LEXIS 721
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 26, 1957
Docket1098
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 153 N.E.2d 394 (State v. Orth) 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. Orth, 153 N.E.2d 394, 106 Ohio App. 35, 6 Ohio Op. 2d 300, 1957 Ohio App. LEXIS 721 (Ohio Ct. App. 1957).

Opinions

Middleton, P. J.

This is an appeal on questions of law from a judgment of the Court of Common Pleas.

The record discloses that the grand jury of Allen County, Ohio, in April 1956, indicted the defendant for the murder of John Mooney while in the perpetration of a robbery. The defendant entered a plea of not guilty, and upon trial his only defense was an alibi. The jury returned a verdict of not guilty, and the defendant was ordered discharged. Subsequently, the defendant was placed on trial on an indictment returned by the same grand jury charging the defendant with armed robbery. His plea to this indictment was not guilty. Upon trial, the defendant was found guilty and, on motion, was granted a new *36 trial. Upon retrial, the defendant filed a motion to allow him to withdraw his plea of not guilty, for the purpose of entering a plea of former jeopardy and other defenses allowed by law. This motion the court overruled. The defendant then filed a motion for an order permitting him to enter the defense of res judicata in addition to his plea of not guilty and tendered therewith what is designated as “defense of res judicata.” This motion was also overruled by the court.

The trial proceeded on defendant’s plea of not guilty. The jury returned a verdict of guilty, and the defendant was sentenced to the Ohio Penitentiary. From that judgment the defendant prosecutes his appeal.

The defendant assigns as error, the following:

1. For error of law in overruling the defendant’s motion for leave to plead the defense of res judicata and in failing to dismiss the indictment herein on the grounds that the doctrine of res judicata precludes retrial of the issue of the defendant’s presence at the scene of the crime.

2. For errors of law occurring at the trial in the admission of evidence over the objection of the defendant.

3. For error of law in overruling defendant’s motion at the close of the state’s case to dismiss the indictment and to discharge the jury for the reason that the state had not proven a prima facie case, and for other errors manifest on the face of the record.

The record reveals that the indictment for murder and the indictment for armed robbery grew out of the same transaction which occurred at the G & G Cafe in Lima, Ohio, on December 10,1954.

The basic question presented by the first assignment of error is whether the defendant should have been permitted by the court to enter the defense of res judicata in addition to his plea of not guilty.

Section 2943.03, Revised Code, provides:

“Pleas to an indictment or information are:

“(A) Guilty;

“(B) Not guilty;

“(C) A former judgment of conviction or acquittal of the offense;

*37 “(D) Once in jeopardy;

“ (E) Not guilty by reason of insanity.

“A defendant who does not plead guilty may enter one or more of the other pleas. * * *. The court may, for good cause shown, allow a change of plea at any time before the commencement of the trial.”

Section 10, Article I of the Constitution of the state of Ohio, provides that:

“No person shall be twice put in jeopardy for the same offense.”

Article Y, Amendments, U. S. Constitution, provides:

“# * * nor shail any person be subject for the.same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb * # *”

The constitutional guaranties apply only to being placed in jeopardy more than once for the same offense.

As stated in the opinion in State v. Rose, 89 Ohio St., 383, at page 386, 106 N. E., 50, L. R. A. 1915A, 256, “the words ‘same offense’ mean same offense, not the same transaction, not the same acts, not the same circumstances or same situation.”

The defendant in the case at bar, after his motion for leave to interpose the defense of once in jeopardy was overruled, abandoned this defense and does not now claim former jeopardy. However, the same result is sought by interposing the defense of res judicata, that the verdict of not guilty in the murder trial was a former acquittal and estopped the state from trial of the defendant in the instant case on the charge of armed robbery.

Upon the filing of his motion for leave to enter the defense of res judicata, submitting to the court his defense of res judicata setting forth the facts he claims in support of his motion, the question presented was a question of law for the court. No additional facts than those submitted by the defendant were needed or required by the court in ruling on the motion.

It is the claim of the defendant that the only issue for the jury to determine in the robbery trial was the same issue of fact that was decided by the jury in the murder trial, to wit, the alibi of the defendant; that the verdict of not guilty in the murder trial was a former acquittal; and that the doctrine of res judicata applies.

*38 There is nothing in the record to support defendant’s claim, which claim is strongly disputed by the state, that in the murder trial the only issue was the issue of alibi. The issue of alibi was only one of the issues involved. There wore many others.

The record is silent as to the issues upon which the murder case was tried. However, the nature of the charge involved a number of essential elements constituting the crime of murder while in the perpetration of a robbery, which the state was required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. Failure upon the part of the state to prove any one of the essential elements required a verdict of acquittal.

Failure of the defendant to deny or dispute any of the issues involved would not relieve the state from the necessity to prove all the essential elements constituting the crime, beyond a reasonable doubt. This truth was recognized by defendant’s counsel when, in his opening statement in the case at bar, he stated:

“Under our plea of not guilty the prosecution has to prove each and every element of their case by evidence beyond a reasonable doubt.”

The plea of former judgment of conviction or acquittal of the offense and the plea of once in jeopardy differ only in the extent and character of the elements constituting the defense.

“As a general rule, a person is in legal jeopardy when he is put on trial, after a proper arraignment and plea, before a court of competent jurisdiction, on an indictment or information which is sufficient in form and substance to sustain a conviction, and a legally constituted jury has been charged with his deliverance.” 15 Ohio Jurisprudence (2d), 444, Section 261.

The elements constituting a plea of former judgment of conviction or acquittal of the offense will also support a plea of once in jeopardy. However, a plea of former judgment of conviction or acquittal of the offense is limited to a final judgment entered upon the merits.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
153 N.E.2d 394, 106 Ohio App. 35, 6 Ohio Op. 2d 300, 1957 Ohio App. LEXIS 721, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-orth-ohioctapp-1957.