State v. Riley, Unpublished Decision (3-2-2007)

2007 Ohio 879
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 2, 2007
DocketNo. WD-03-076.
StatusUnpublished
Cited by48 cases

This text of 2007 Ohio 879 (State v. Riley, Unpublished Decision (3-2-2007)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law.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State v. Riley, Unpublished Decision (3-2-2007), 2007 Ohio 879 (Ohio Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

DECISION AND JUDGMENT ENTRY
{¶ 1} Appellant, Gerald Riley, was convicted of aggravated burglary, a violation of R.C. 2911.11(A)(1) and a felony of the first degree, after a jury trial in the Wood County Court of Common Pleas. We dismissed appellant's initial appeal as of right due to his appellate counsel's failure to file a merit brief; we then granted his application to reopen his appeal pursuant to App.R. 26(B) and State v. Murnahan (1992), *Page 2

63 Ohio St.3d 60. State v. Riley, 6th Dist. No. WD-03-076, 2006-Ohio-116. Having reviewed the entire record, we affirm in part and reverse in part.

{¶ 2} The following facts are relevant to this appeal. On July 9, 2003, Juan and Terry Delgado, husband and wife, were awoken from sleep by loud pounding on their front door. Before they were fully awake, the front door was kicked open. Four masked men entered their mobile home yelling, "police" and warning the Delgados to stay down. The Delgados were pulled from bed, made to lie on the hall floor, and were partially covered by a bed sheet. The men beat and kicked Juan Delgado and threatened to kill Terry Delgado; they demanded money and a safe they apparently thought was in the home. The Delgados directed the men to their wallet and purse; unsatisfied, the men continued to threaten and beat them. The men took Terry's wedding rings and other miscellaneous items; they dumped the wallet and other items into a pillowcase taken from the bed.

{¶ 3} Meanwhile, a man walking past the Delgados mobile home called 911 when he saw several men break in the Delgados' door and yell "police." At trial, he was ruled unavailable as a witness and a tape of his 911 call was played for the jury. In the call, he reported, "I'm telling you ma'am, they're doing something to that lady. I can hear." When the dispatcher asked the witness to read the car's license plate, the witness responded that he was too afraid to get closer to look, but he described the car as a champagne colored Cadillac. *Page 3

{¶ 4} Inside the residence, the men's faces were covered by masks. One man's mask slipped off briefly, and Terry later identified him as appellant's co-defendant. However, they were unable to say they saw appellant inside the residence. Juan was able to describe one man as wearing tennis shoes and shorts. After the men left, the Delgados quickly dressed and drove out of their garage seeking help. Just past their driveway, they encountered the officer responding to the emergency call.

{¶ 5} The officer arrived approximately four to five minutes after the 911 call. The witness who called 911 reported to the officer at the scene that four men left the mobile home and drove away in a champagne colored Cadillac. When the officers initially spoke to the Delgados, they reported that the men were wearing white masks and all carried handguns; later, after leaving the hospital, they described the masks as black.

{¶ 6} Sergeant Otte was patrolling the area nearby when he heard the initial dispatch report of a burglary in process. He then observed two cars, a champagne colored Cadillac and an Oldsmobile, pull onto the main road, leaving the area of the burglary. He decided to follow the Cadillac, and a few minutes later heard the dispatch report that the witness saw a Cadillac leave the scene. He followed the Cadillac onto the interstate highway, activated his overhead lights to effect a stop, and requested more officers. When the Cadillac pulled over, two men immediately jumped from the passenger side and ran down the highway embankment. The Cadillac drove away quickly, and Otte followed. When the car pulled over again approximately one mile later, there was only one man, the driver, in the car. Otte identified him as appellant. He *Page 4 was wearing shorts, a dark-colored T-shirt, and tennis shoes. The two men who fled on foot were later apprehended by other officers and prosecuted as co-defendants, including the man who Terry later identified as having been inside her residence.

{¶ 7} Officers impounded and inventoried the Cadillac. The items retrieved included Juan Delgado's wallet and identification, Juan Delgado's credit card, a pillow case which Terry Delgado identified as hers, a black mask and black gloves, and a cellular phone. Fingerprints lifted from the car were later matched with appellant's fingerprints. Officers later searching the area surrounding the highway found a cellular phone and cord, latex gloves, a bandana, and a loaded handgun near where the men fled.

{¶ 8} The black mask and black gloves retrieved from the Cadillac were submitted for DNA testing. Julie Cox, a forensic scientist with the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, was recognized as an expert in the field of DNA analysis without objection from appellant's counsel. She was able to extract DNA samples from both the mask and the gloves, and compared them to DNA samples taken from appellant, two co-defendants, and the Delgados. As to the glove sample, she determined appellant was the "major contributor" to the partial profile she was able to obtain; as she explained, at least one other person besides appellant wore the gloves, and more "signals" matched appellant's DNA as opposed to the other DNA. Similarly, only a partial profile was extracted from the mask, and appellant "could not be excluded as a contributor" to the sample. She could not, however, positively identify him as a major or minor contributor. As to the gloves, however, there was greater than a one in 500,000 chance that someone *Page 5 other than appellant was the major contributor to the DNA sample. Appellant's two co-defendants were excluded as contributors to any of the found DNA. Appellant's counsel did not object to any portion of her testimony.

{¶ 9} The jury found appellant guilty; the matter proceeded immediately to sentencing. He was sentenced by the Wood County Court of Common Pleas to ten years in prison, the maximum sentence for the offense, and ordered to pay $15,000 in restitution.

{¶ 10} Appellant presents seven assignments of error for review:

{¶ 11} "Assignment of Error I: Gerald Riley's right to confrontation was violated when the trial court allowed the State to introduce testimonial hearsay statements through the playing of a 911 call recording and the testimony of a police officer as to his later conversation with the 911 caller.

{¶ 12} "Assignment of Error II: The trial court imposed a non-minimum, maximum prison sentence on the basis of findings made by the trial court pursuant to an unconstitutional statutory felony sentencing scheme.

{¶ 13} "Assignment of Error III: Gerald Riley was denied his state and federal constitutional rights to due process and a fair trial when the trial court entered a judgment of conviction against him for aggravated burglary in the absence of sufficient evidence to support the conviction. *Page 6

{¶ 14} "Assignment of Error IV: Gerald Riley's conviction must be reversed and his case remanded for a new trial because his conviction is against the manifest weight of the evidence.

{¶ 15}

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Bluebook (online)
2007 Ohio 879, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-riley-unpublished-decision-3-2-2007-ohioctapp-2007.