State v. Wigglesworth

248 N.E.2d 607, 18 Ohio St. 2d 171, 47 Ohio Op. 2d 388, 1969 Ohio LEXIS 394
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedJune 11, 1969
DocketNo. 68-382
StatusPublished
Cited by54 cases

This text of 248 N.E.2d 607 (State v. Wigglesworth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Wigglesworth, 248 N.E.2d 607, 18 Ohio St. 2d 171, 47 Ohio Op. 2d 388, 1969 Ohio LEXIS 394 (Ohio 1969).

Opinion

Taft, C. J.

Defendant complains because he was given no preliminary hearing pursuant to Section 2937.01 et seq., Devised Code.

After being charged with first degree murder, defendant was brought before the Akron Municipal Court on June 3, 1967 for arraignment. Because defendant was not represented by counsel, the court, pursuant to Section 2937.03, Revised Code, continued the case until June 9, 1967. In the meantime, on June 8, the grand jury of Summit County indicted defendant for first degree murder. Thereafter, on July 6, 1967 defendant filed a motion to remand the cause to the Municipal Court for a preliminary hearing. This motion was properly overruled.

[174]*174In State v. Minamyer (1967), 12 Ohio St. 2d 67, 232 N. E. 2d 401, paragraph one of the syllabus reads:

“The only purpose of a preliminary hearing is to determine whether sufficient facts exist to warrant the court in binding the accused over to the grand jury and to set bail, and once an indictment has been returned by the grand jury a preliminary hearing before a magistrate is no longer necessary. (White v. Maxwell, 174 Ohio St. 186; Crider v. Maxwell, 174 Ohio St. 190, approved and followed.)”

See also State v. Wilkinson (1969), 17 Ohio St. 2d 9, 244 N. E. 2d 480.

Defendant further complains because of the overruling of his motion “to suppress the use of any oral or written statements made by defendant as evidence on the grounds that any such statements were not voluntarily made and that such statements were made while defendant was in custody and was not informed of his rights * * * under the guidelines as set forth in Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U. S. 436.”

In considering this motion, the trial judge conducted a hearing before the jury was chosen and determined that the required Miranda warnings had been given and that the statements were voluntarily made. In addition, the trial court submitted those questions to the jury with instructions to disregard the statements if they found either that the statements were not voluntarily made or that the required Miranda warnings had not been given.

Our examination of the record convinces us that the court was correct in determining that the required Miranda warnings had been given and that the statements were voluntarily made.

Defendant next complains about the overruling of a motion to suppress evidence seized as a result of a search of a certain apartment. The record shows without dispute that this apartment was rented to a Mrs. Hayes, that she paid the rent for the apartment and that she consented to the search.

Except by referring to defendant as a co-occupant of the apartment, defendant’s brief does not suggest what [175]*175right he had to question the search. An examination of the record indicates that the basis for the claim of co-occupancy by defendant was that he had been living in the apartment with Mrs. Hayes off and on for about six months, and continuously for about two weeks before the killing, and had left some of his clothes there. In our opinion, this would not give defendant a right to object to a search, with her consent and in his absence, of what was admittedly her apartment. Cf. Brown v. Cleveland Baseball Co. (1952), 158 Ohio St. 1, 106 N. E. 2d 632. Such search “invaded no right of privacy or person or premises” of the defendant. Alderman v. U. S. (1969), 89 S. Ct. 961; Frazier v. Cupp (1969), 89 S. Ct. 1420; Goldstein v. U. S. (1942), 316 U. S. 114, 86 L. Ed. 1312, 62 S. Ct. 1000; Wong Sun v. U. S. (1963), 371 U. S. 471, 492, 9 L. Ed. 2d 441, 83 S. Ct. 407.

Defendant also complains because the trial court overruled his challenge for cause of one of the prospective jurors, and that this required him to use one of his peremptory challenges. An examination of the record indicates no basis whatever for this challenge for cause.

It is next contended that the court erred in admitting testimony as to the identification of the defendant from a line-up.

We do not believe the evidence discloses any such testimony.

A Reverend Martin was sitting in his car at about midnight on the night of the murder, near the place in the park where defendant’s wife’s dead body was found the next morning. Martin was then studying his notes for a high school commencement address to be given a few nights later. He saw a woman and a man go to a place in the park where the body was subsequently found, and he then heard two pistol shots from that direction, about a minute apart.

Next day, when he heard of discovery of the body, he went to the police station to report this and saw defendant there. At the trial, a detective testified on direct examination that Martin said that, from the sweater defendant was [176]*176then wearing, defendant looked like the man he had observed go into the park.

The testimony complained of was brought out on defendant’s cross-examination of the detective, which reads:

“Q. # * * Now, did you put this defendant in a line-up? A. Yes, he was on the stage, yes.
“Q. He was the only man on that stage, isn’t that true? A. That’s true.
“Q. You said ‘Reverend Martin said it looked like the man from the sweater he was wearing.’ Wasn’t that your direct testimony? A. That was before he was put on the stage.”

The foregoing cannot be construed as testimony that Reverend Martin identified the defendant at any line-up.

Actually, Martin did not identify defendant as being in the park that night, although he did identify defendant’s sweater as being on the man who went into the park shortly before he heard the two shots.

Also, not only in his counsel’s opening statement, but also in his own testimony and in his counsel’s argument, defendant admitted shooting his wife in the park at that time, although he contended he did so in self-defense.

Defendant next complains about statements made by the prosecutor in his closing argument to the jury.

In order to understand this complaint, it is necessary to consider the differences between defendant’s confession and his testimony at the trial, and the contentions made by defendant in order to persuade the jury not to find him guilty of first degree murder.

At the trial, defendant testified that, after reaching the place where his wife was killed, she and defendant got into a heated argument, that she attacked him with a knife, and that he shot her twice in order to protect himself, the first shot being at close range and the second while she was falling. The coroner had testified that there were powder burns on defendant’s wife at the wound where the fatal shot entered and that the other shot could not have caused death.

On the basis of this evidence, defendant contended that [177]*177he shot in self-defense.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
248 N.E.2d 607, 18 Ohio St. 2d 171, 47 Ohio Op. 2d 388, 1969 Ohio LEXIS 394, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-wigglesworth-ohio-1969.