State v. Thompson, 90606 (2-12-2009)

2009 Ohio 615
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 12, 2009
DocketNo. 90606.
StatusUnpublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 2009 Ohio 615 (State v. Thompson, 90606 (2-12-2009)) 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. Thompson, 90606 (2-12-2009), 2009 Ohio 615 (Ohio Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

JOURNAL ENTRY AND OPINION
{¶ 1} Defendant-appellant, Andre Thompson ("Thompson"), appeals his convictions. Finding no merit to the appeal, we affirm.

{¶ 2} In January 2007, Thompson was charged in a thirteen-count indictment. Counts one and two charged him with the aggravated murder of Reginald Roberson ("Roberson") and contained a three-year firearm specification, a felony murder specification, and a separate mass murder specification for the attempted murders of Carnail Duckworth ("Duckworth"), Christopher Page ("Page"), and Antonio Knott ("Knott"). Counts three, four, seven, and eight charged Thompson with the aggravated robbery of Roberson and Duckworth. Counts five, six, nine, and ten charged him with the aggravated robbery of Page and Knott. Counts eleven, twelve, and thirteen charged him with the attempted murders of Duckworth, Page, and Knott.1

{¶ 3} The matter proceeded to a jury trial in August 2007. During the jury selection process, Thompson moved to suppress the photo array, arguing that the photo identification procedure used by Cleveland police was unnecessarily suggestive. Following the hearing, the trial court denied the motion, finding that Thompson did not meet his burden of establishing that the procedure was unduly suggestive.

{¶ 4} Because Page was not available at the initial suppression hearing, he was questioned at a later time. After his testimony regarding the photo *Page 4 array, the trial court again denied Thompson's motion, finding that the identification procedure was not "perfect" with regard to Page, but that the photo array was not unnecessarily suggestive and that there was no likelihood of irreparable mistaken identification based upon the procedure used.

{¶ 5} The matter then proceeded to a jury trial, where the following evidence was presented.

{¶ 6} On the evening of December 15, 2006, Roberson, Duckworth, and Knott had performed as male dancers at two dance clubs in Cleveland.2 Linda Alexander ("Alexander") and her sister, Shaletha Perry ("Perry"), arranged to meet Roberson and his friends, Duckworth, Page, and Knott, at the end of the evening.3 Alexander picked up her friend, Clarissa Pittman ("Clarissa"), and met Roberson, Duckworth, Page, and Knott at a gas station on Superior Avenue. The group, traveling in three cars, followed Alexander to a house on East 120th Street. They all planned to go to Clarissa's apartment to socialize. However, Clarissa first stopped by her grandmother's house to pick up her keys from her brother, Clarence Pittman ("Clarence"). All three cars parked across the street from Clarissa's grandmother's house. *Page 5

{¶ 7} Clarence and Thompson were sitting in a car parked in the driveway. Thompson exited the vehicle, walked to a red van, and retrieved an item from the van. He then walked toward Roberson's vehicle. Thompson wore a jacket with a hood and had a mask covering the lower half of his face.

{¶ 8} Clarissa, Alexander, and Duckworth were standing outside Roberson's vehicle when Thompson approached and pulled out a gun. Clarissa pushed the gun away and told Thompson to "stop playing." Thompson pushed her out of the way and said, "Ya'll know what it is, give me all you got," and shot at Duckworth.4 Roberson attempted to drive away, but Thompson fired several shots at Roberson's vehicle, causing Roberson to crash into the red van. Page attempted to assist Duckworth, but Thompson chased him and shot at him as well. Alexander and Page drove to a gas station to call the police.

{¶ 9} Meanwhile, Knott also exited Duckworth's car to assist Duckworth. Duckworth told him to save himself and run. As Knott ran away, Thompson and another male chased him and shot at him. He called 911 as he ran away. He identified the shooter as the taller of the two men chasing him.

{¶ 10} Thompson's girlfriend, Michelle Williams ("Williams"), testified that she was in the red van parked on the street. She accompanied Thompson to East 120th Street to buy some marijuana. She stated that Thompson was the only one who came to the van. However, she claimed that Clarence was the *Page 6 shooter, and that Thompson had told her that Clarence and Clarissa were trying to rob Roberson, Page, Duckworth, and Knott. She fled the scene with Thompson after Roberson's car hit their van.

{¶ 11} Williams further testified that she called 911. She admitted making a false report that Thompson's van was stolen because she did not want any involvement in the matter. She told police that she was carjacked at gunpoint. She admitted, however, that she failed to tell the police in both of her statements that Clarence was the shooter.

{¶ 12} The jury found Thompson guilty of the aggravated murder of Roberson as charged in count two of the indictment, with the three-year firearm and felony murder (principal offender) specifications attached. The jury also found Thompson guilty of the aggravated robbery of Roberson and Duckworth, as charged in counts three, four, seven, and eight of the indictment and the attempted murder of Duckworth and Knott, as charged in counts eleven and thirteen of the indictment. Counts five, six, nine, and ten were dismissed by the trial court pursuant to Thompson's Crim. R. 29 motion.

{¶ 13} At sentencing, the jury recommended that Thompson be sentenced on count two to life imprisonment, with the possibility of parole after serving twenty-five years in prison.5 The court sentenced Thompson on counts three, *Page 7 four, seven, eight, eleven, and thirteen. It merged all three-year firearm specifications and sentenced Thompson to ten years in prison on count three and ten years on count four to run concurrently to each other, but consecutively to count two.6 The court merged counts seven and eight into counts three and four, respectively. Thompson was sentenced to ten years in prison on count eleven, to be served consecutively to counts three and four, and five years on count thirteen, to run consecutively to counts three, four, and eleven, for an aggregate of fifty-three years to life in prison.

{¶ 14} Thompson appeals, raising five assignments of error. In the first assignment of error, he argues that his convictions are against the manifest weight of the evidence.

Manifest Weight of Evidence
{¶ 15} In evaluating a challenge to the verdict based on the manifest weight of the evidence, a court sits as the thirteenth juror, and intrudes its judgment into proceedings that it finds to be fatally flawed through misrepresentation or misapplication of the evidence by a jury that has "lost its way." State v. Thompkins, 78 Ohio St.3d 380,1997-Ohio-52, 678 N.E.2d 541. As the Ohio Supreme Court declared:

"Weight of the evidence concerns `the inclination of the greater amount of credible evidence offered in a trial, to support one side of the issue rather than the other.

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Bluebook (online)
2009 Ohio 615, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-thompson-90606-2-12-2009-ohioctapp-2009.