State v. Wilkinson

244 N.E.2d 480, 17 Ohio St. 2d 9, 46 Ohio Op. 2d 114, 1969 Ohio LEXIS 405
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 5, 1969
DocketNo. 68-170
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 244 N.E.2d 480 (State v. Wilkinson) 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. Wilkinson, 244 N.E.2d 480, 17 Ohio St. 2d 9, 46 Ohio Op. 2d 114, 1969 Ohio LEXIS 405 (Ohio 1969).

Opinion

Taft, C. J.

Defendant’s first complaint is that he was denied a preliminary examination and a bill of particulars, and thus that he was not afforded the right to be informed of “the nature and cause of the accusation” against him, as required by the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and by Section 10 of Article I of the Ohio Constitution.

On March 12, 1966, the claimed victim of the crimes, with which defendant was charged, filed an affidavit in the Hillsboro Municipal Court, charging defendant with larceny by trick, and that court ordered a preliminary examination. However, defendant was indicted before the date set for that examination, and Section 2937.34, Revised Code, which provides for an examining court where there is no indictment, no longer applied. See paragraph one of the syllabus in Kendle v. Tarbell (1873), 24 Ohio St. 196; White v. Maxwell (1963), 174 Ohio St. 186, 188, 187 N. E. 2d 878; Crider v. Maxwell (1963), 174 Ohio St. 190, 192, 187 N. E. 2d 875.

With respect to this complaint, defendant contends further that he was not furnished with a bill of particulars elaborating the offenses charged in the indictment, as or[11]*11dered by the Common Pleas Court of Highland County. Section 2941.07, Revised Code, provides for a bill of particulars, as follows:

“ # * * prosecuting attorney, if seasonably requested by the defendant, or upon order of the court, shall furnish a bill of particulars setting up specifically the nature of the offense charged.”

Although defendant was arrested in April 1966 under this indictment, and the trial date of November 21, 1966 was set by an entry of the court on August 9,1966, following an oral application by defendant’s counsel to set a date for trial, the motion for a bill of particulars was not filed until October 27, 1966. This was hardly a seasonable request within the meaning of the above-quoted statute. The delay also tends to indicate that defendant was not ignorant of “the nature of the offense charged.” Rather, as stated by the Court of Appeals, “it is evident that defense counsel wanted evidence given to them. This is not required of the prosecution.”

The Common Pleas Court sustained the motion for a bill of particulars as to several requests relating to each count in an order on November 16, 1966, and a bill of particulars was filed in compliance therewith on November 18, 1966. On that same date a copy was furnished defendant’s counsel. In our opinion, there is no merit to defendant’s first complaint.

The defendant’s second complaint is that he was “not reasonably notified of his trial date,” and was then forced to stand trial while ill and insufficiently prepared. As already indicated, the November 21, 1966 trial date was set at defendant’s request on August 9,1966, and an entry was filed to this effect. Counsel for defendant filed a motion for a separate trial and to sever the counts of the indictment. This was sustained only as to severance.

It was argued that counsel could reasonably rely upon an oral remark of the clerk of the Common Pleas Court, to the effect that defendant Wilkinson would not be tried with his codefendants, but there was never any order of the [12]*12court or entry other than that setting the joint trial date of November 21, 1966. Also, the record indicates that defendant ’s counsel realized that the court intended to proceed with the trial on that date. On November 21, he filed a motion for continuance, specifying several grounds therefor. There is no mention of the clerk’s statement in that motion. Thus, it is too late upon appeal to rely upon any such statement as a basis for any such motion for continuance.

One ground specified in that motion of November 21 for a continuance was that defendant was too ill to attend his trial.

Section 2945.02, Revised Code, provides in part:

a* * # N0 continuance of the trial shall be granted except upon affirmative proof in open court, upon reasonable notice, that the ends of justice require a continuance.” As evidence in support of defendant’s claimed physical disability, a statement from a local physician was introduced which identified defendant’s affliction as a urinary bladder infection, with an “urgency to urinate.” However, the doctor did not recommend delaying the trial and merely noted that sitting in court for long periods of time would be detrimental to defendant’s health. Another physician concurred in the diagnosis, and both physicians agreed that defendant could sit in the courtroom, with frequent relief intervals. In the course of the trial, defendant was provided with frequent opportunities to relieve himself. We cannot conclude that the court unreasonably denied the requested continuance.

The third complaint of defendant is that pre-trial publicity identified the defendants as members of a “ notorious gang,” and that the presence of a large number of uniformed officers at the opening of trial and the statements of a prosecuting witness, characterizing defendant as threatening the entire town, served to prejudice the jury against defendant. The record does not indicate that any of the empaneled jurors had any prejudice resulting from any adverse publicity against defendant; and there was no [13]*13motion by defendant for a change of venue. In fact, the newspapers referred to as reflecting adversely on defendant were out-of-town papers. Upon motion of defendant’s counsel, and prior to completion of the voir dire, the recognizable officers in attendance were reduced to three. The objectionable testimony was stricken and the jury was directed to disregard it. There is no merit to this complaint.

The fourth complaint of defendant requires an explanatory statement as to the nature of the fraudulent scheme with which defendant was charged. The evidence tended to prove that defendant and his codefendants were working a variation of what is colloquially referred to as the “green goods” racket. The defendants claimed that, if United States currency, in the denomination of $100, was furnished, the equipment of defendant and his codefendants would convert each such $100 bill into a bill of a denomination of $1,000.

In conjunction with the arrest of a codefendant for a different crime, agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (with the consent of the codefendant and following the giving of advice as to his constitutional rights) searched his home and automobile and confiscated several items of epuipment. These items were present in the courtroom and contained in suit cases.

Defendant states in his brief that: “The error of the court in the present case is not in permitting the items seized to be admitted into evidence but permitting the items to be paraded back and forth in front of the jury and in permitting extensive examination of the officers concerning the nature of said exhibits.”

Following explanatory testimony, the contents of the suit cases were offered into evidence out of the hearing of the jury, but they were rejected by the court. Contrary to the implications of defendant in his use of the phrase, “paraded back and forth,” the cases were never opened. In this case, the search was not illegal, no pre-trial motion to suppress was made despite defendant’s knowledge of the seizure of the evidence (see State v. Davis [1964], 1 Ohio [14]*14St. 2d 28, 203 N. E. 2d 357), and the items were never admitted into evidence.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
244 N.E.2d 480, 17 Ohio St. 2d 9, 46 Ohio Op. 2d 114, 1969 Ohio LEXIS 405, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-wilkinson-ohio-1969.