State v. Ross

2010 Ohio 6282, 943 N.E.2d 992, 128 Ohio St. 3d 283
Ohio Supreme Court·Decided December 28, 2010·No. 2009-1619·Published·Cited by 18 cases

Opinions

Cupp, J.

{¶ 1} This appeal presents the issue of whether a trial court, having denied a timely filed Crim.R. 29(C) motion for acquittal, may reconsider its ruling and grant the motion based on the defendant’s renewed motion filed after the 14-day time period in Crim.R. 29(C) has expired.

{¶ 2} In this case, the trial court denied appellee Denny Ross’s timely filed motion for acquittal pursuant to Crim.R. 29(C). However, well after the expiration of the time period for making a motion for acquittal under Crim.R. 29(C), Ross filed a supplemental memorandum urging the trial court to grant him an acquittal. The trial court then purported to grant what it characterized as Ross’s motion for reconsideration of the court’s previous order denying Ross’s motion for acquittal. The state appealed, contending that the court of common pleas lacks jurisdiction to grant an untimely Crim.R. 29(C) motion for acquittal because Crim.R. 45(B) bars any extension of time not expressly provided for by Crim.R. 29(C), and any order purporting to grant acquittal outside the confines of Crim.R. 29(C) is void and unenforceable. The court of appeals affirmed. State v. Ross, 184 Ohio App.3d 174, 2009-Ohio-3561, 920 N.E.2d 162, ¶ 25. We granted review. State v. Ross, 124 Ohio St.3d 1472, 2010-Ohio-354, 921 N.E.2d 244.

I. Procedural History

{¶ 3} In 1999, a Summit County grand jury indicted Denny Ross for the kidnapping, rape, murder, and aggravated murder of Hanna Hill and for tamper[284] ing with evidence and abuse of a corpse. The indictment, as supplemented, alleged two aggravating circumstances — committing murder during a rape and committing murder during a kidnapping — making Ross eligible for the death penalty. See R.C. 2929.04(A)(7). During Ross’s trial, the court granted in part Ross’s motion for acquittal under Crim.R. 29(A), ordering dismissal of the kidnapping charge and the related death-penalty specification. At the close of all evidence, Ross again moved for acquittal on the remaining charges under Crim.R. 29(A), but that motion was denied.

{¶ 4} Before the jury trial concluded, the trial judge granted a mistrial because of juror misconduct. The jury was discharged on October 28, 2000. The trial court then discovered that the jury had filled out some of the verdict forms to acquit (with regard to the charges of aggravated murder, murder, and rape), but the court did not accept those verdicts because the jury already had been discharged.

{¶ 5} Within 14 days of the trial court’s discharge of the jury, Ross renewed his motion for acquittal, under Crim.R. 29(C), on the remaining charges of aggravated murder, murder, rape, tampering with evidence, and abuse of a corpse. He also filed a motion to perfect the verdicts of acquittal and a motion to dismiss the case on double-jeopardy grounds. A different judge was appointed to preside over the case after the recusal of Judge Bond, the original trial judge. The new trial judge granted the motion to dismiss on double-jeopardy grounds and declined to rule on the other motions, including the Crim.R. 29(C) motion for acquittal. On direct appeal of the trial court’s double-jeopardy ruling, the court of appeals reversed and remanded the case for retrial. State v. Ross, 9th Dist. No. 20980, 2002-Ohio-7317, 2002 WL 31890088.1

{¶ 6} On September 10, 2003, after the court of appeals’ decision and before the federal courts’ final resolution of Ross’s separate challenge to the mistrial in federal habeas corpus proceedings, the common pleas court in a one-page order denied Ross’s motions for acquittal and to perfect the jury verdicts and scheduled the case for trial on November 17, 2003.

[285] {¶ 7} On September 12, 2003, almost three years after the jury had been discharged after the mistrial, Ross filed a document entitled “defendant’s supplemental memorandum in support of his motion to perfect the three unanimous verdicts of acquittal.”2 On October 3, 2003, the trial court issued an order to grant the state additional time to respond to Ross’s September 12, 2003 filing and to permit oral argument and a hearing on the merits of Ross’s motion to perfect the verdicts. In its October 3, 2003 entry, the trial court characterized Ross’s September 12, 2003 filing as a motion to reconsider its order of September 10, 2003. A week later, the trial court issued an order granting Ross’s motion to continue the trial and setting a scheduling conference for October 15, 2003.

{¶ 8} On November 6, 2003, Ross filed a supplemental memorandum in support of his renewed motion for judgment of acquittal pursuant to Crim.R. 29. This was the first time after the September 10, 2003 order denying his motion for acquittal that Ross sought to renew his acquittal motion. In this filing, Ross urged dismissal of the rape charge and the aggravating circumstance of killing the victim in the course of committing a rape and requested the court to consider the state’s recent posttrial notice of additional evidence, pursuant to Brady v. Maryland (1963), 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215, which cast doubt on some of the state’s expert testimony at trial regarding the apparent bite marks found on the victim.

{¶ 9} The trial court held a hearing on Ross’s motions, including his renewed motion for acquittal, on November 12, 2003. At that hearing, and in a written response to Ross’s renewed motion, the state objected to the trial court’s consideration of Ross’s renewed motion on the ground that it was filed well after the 14-day deadline for such motions in Crim.R. 29(C). On November 26, 2003, Ross filed a second supplemental memorandum in support of his renewed motion for acquittal pursuant to Crim.R. 29. The trial court issued a written opinion purporting to reconsider its previous denial of Ross’s motion for acquittal and acquitting Ross of the rape charge and the related death-penalty specification.

{¶ 10} The state filed both an appeal as of right and a motion for leave to appeal. In the motion, the state sought leave to appeal the judgment entry “granting Defendant’s Motion to Reconsider the court’s Previous Denial of Defendant’s Criminal Rule 29 Motion for Judgment of Acquittal, and specifically granting the Defendant Judgment of Acquittal of the offense of Rape and the [286] Death Specification.” (Emphasis sic.) The court of appeals, in a brief order, granted without discussion the state’s motion for leave to appeal under R.C. 2945.67(A).

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State v. Ross, 2010 Ohio 6282, 943 N.E.2d 992, 128 Ohio St. 3d 283 (Ohio 2010).

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