State v. Singfield

918 N.E.2d 187, 183 Ohio App. 3d 625
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 19, 2009
DocketNo. 24576
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 918 N.E.2d 187 (State v. Singfield) 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. Singfield, 918 N.E.2d 187, 183 Ohio App. 3d 625 (Ohio Ct. App. 2009).

Opinions

Whitmore, Judge.

{¶ 1} Defendant-appellant, Phillip Singfield, appeals from his convictions and sentence in the Summit County Court of Common Pleas. This court affirms in part and reverses in part.

I

{¶ 2} At approximately 1:80 a.m. on July 26, 2008, Staci Smith and her cousin, Ñatea Proctor, drove to a bar on Newton Street. Smith parked her vehicle in the bar’s lot, and she and Proctor remained in the vehicle to eat some food that they had just purchased. While they were eating, a man approached the vehicle and asked the women for a light. Subsequently, the man produced a handgun and threatened to shoot the women while he demanded their purses. Smith and Proctor handed over their purses, and the man walked away, entered a nearby car, and drove off. Smith and Proctor went inside the bar and called 911 to report the incident. Both Smith and Proctor provided the police with descriptions of their assailant.

{¶ 3} Smith later saw the man who she believed had robbed her while riding the bus and again while walking down a street near her home. On the second occasion, Smith telephoned Proctor. Proctor, who was at Smith’s house, was able to look outside and see the man. Proctor also identified him as the person who had robbed her. Smith began to follow the man and called 911. Upon their arrival, the police arrested Singfield, the man whom both Smith and Proctor had identified as their assailant.

{¶ 4} On October 3, 2008, a grand jury indicted Singfield on the following counts: (1) two counts of aggravated robbery, in violation of R.C. 2911.01(A)(1), both with firearm specifications, in violation of R.C. 2941.145; (2) two counts of robbery, in violation of R.C. 2911.01(A)(1), (2), both with firearm specifications; (3) having a weapon while under disability, in violation of R.C. 2923.13(A)(2), (3); (4) theft, in violation of R.C. 2913.02(A)(1), (4); and (5) petty theft, in violation of R.C. 2913.02(A)(1), (4). The matter proceeded to a jury trial, and on December [628]*62815, 2008, the jury found Singfield guilty on all counts and the specifications linked to those counts. On December 16, 2008, the trial court orally sentenced Singfield, including a prison term for each specification, for a total sentence of 14 years.

{¶ 5} On December 22, 2008, Singfield filed a motion to modify his sentence, arguing that his firearms specifications were allied offenses for which the trial court should not have imposed separate sentences upon him. The trial court held a hearing on the motion and issued another oral sentence. The trial court (1) merged Singfield’s sentences for his two counts of robbery with firearm specifications and his counts for theft and petty theft, (2) increased his two aggravated-robbery sentences by one year apiece and ordered them to run consecutively for a total period of ten years, (3) issued three-year sentences on each of the two firearm specifications attached to Singfield’s two aggravated robbery convictions, ordering them to run concurrently with one another but consecutively with the sentence for aggravated robbery, and (4) ordered a one-year consecutive sentence for having a weapon while under disability. Accordingly, Singfield still received a total sentence of 14 years. The court journalized Singfield’s sentence on December 29, 2008.

{¶ 6} Singfield now appeals from his convictions and sentence and raises three assignments of error for our review.

II

Assignment of Error Number One

Appellant Singfield’s indictment was defective under the Ohio Constitution, Article I, Section 10 as the state failed to include a mental culpability element for aggravated robbery in the indictment or at trial.

{¶ 7} In his first assignment of error, Singfield argues that his two convictions for aggravated robbery should be reversed because neither he nor the jury was made aware of the mens rea element applicable to that offense. Specifically, he argues that the omission amounts to structural error. We agree.

{¶ 8} “When an indictment fails to charge a mens rea element of a crime and the defendant fails to raise that defect in the trial court, the defendant has not waived the defect in the indictment.” State v. Colon (“Colon I”), 118 Ohio St.3d 26, 2008-Ohio-1624, 885 N.E.2d 917, syllabus. That is, a defendant may raise a defective-indictment claim for the first time on appeal. Id. Appellate courts generally apply a plain-error analysis when considering a defective-indictment argument on appeal. State v. Colon (“Colon II”), 119 Ohio St.3d 204, 2008-Ohio-3749, 893 N.E.2d 169, at ¶ 7-8. If, however, a defective indictment “result[s] in multiple errors that are inextricably linked to the flawed indictment,” a structural-error analysis is appropriate. Id. at ¶ 7. “[Structural errors [629]*629permeate the trial from beginning to end and put into question the reliability of the trial court in serving its function as a vehicle for determination of guilt or innocence.” Colon I at ¶ 23. In Colon I, the Supreme Court concluded that structural error existed where Colon’s indictment and the court’s jury instructions omitted the mens rea of recklessness for the crime of robbery and the state treated robbery as a strict-liability offense in closing argument. Id. at ¶ 29-31.

{¶ 9} A person cannot be guilty of an offense unless he possesses “the requisite degree of culpability for each element” of that offense. R.C. 2901.21(A)(2). “When the section [defining an offense] neither specifies culpability nor plainly indicates a purpose to impose strict liability, recklessness is sufficient culpability to commit the offense.” R.C. 2901.21(B). Accordingly, “recklessness is the catchall culpable mental state for criminal statutes that fail to mention any degree of culpability.” State v. Lozier, 101 Ohio St.3d 161, 2004-Ohio-732, 803 N.E.2d 770, at ¶21.

{¶ 10} R.C. 2911.01(A)(1) provides:

No person, in attempting or committing a theft offense, * * * shall * * * [h]ave a deadly weapon on or about the offender’s person or under the offender’s control and either display the weapon, brandish it, indicate that the offender possesses it, or use it.

The theft element of R.C. 2911.01(A)(1) is not at issue in this case, as neither party challenges this court’s conclusion that the mens rea of knowingly applies to that portion of the statute. See State v. Robinson, 9th Dist. No. 21583, 2004-Ohio-963, 2004 WL 384211, at ¶ 14-16. Instead, this case concerns the deadly-weapon element of R.C. 2911.01(A)(1). Both Singfield and the state agree that Singfield’s indictment essentially tracked R.C. 2911.01(A)(l)’s language such that no mens rea was included as to the deadly-weapon element. They disagree over the impact of that omission. According to Singfield, the mens rea of recklessness applies to R.C. 2911.01(A)(l)’s deadly weapon-element, and structural error resulted from its omission. According to the state, R.C. 2911.01(A)(1) is a strict-liability offense with regard to its deadly-weapon element, so no mens rea was required. Contrary to Singfield’s argument, this court has never held that the mens rea of recklessness applies to the current version of R.C. 2911.01(A)(l)’s deadly-weapon element.1 This issue constitutes a matter of first impression for this court.

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943 N.E.2d 597 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2010)

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918 N.E.2d 187, 183 Ohio App. 3d 625, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-singfield-ohioctapp-2009.