State v. Henderson, 2017 Ohio 2900

James Henderson was indicted for murder (felony murder predicated on endangering children or felonious assault), two counts of endangering children, and felonious assault after his 3‑month‑old son B.H. was found unresponsive and later died.
Medical responders and hospital staff described the infant as cold, stiff, with a very low body temperature and signs of trauma; resuscitation failed and homicide was listed as the manner of death.
Autopsy showed pooled blood in the occipital skull, retinal/subconjunctival hemorrhages, and findings consistent with abusive head trauma ("whiplash"‑type injury); cause of death: abusive head trauma.
Investigators found numerous internet searches by Henderson for "shaking baby syndrome" in the days immediately before B.H.’s death; Henderson gave inconsistent explanations for the injuries and admitted he "shakes when he gets angry."
Henderson waived a jury trial; after a bench trial the court convicted him of one endangering‑children count, felonious assault, and murder, and sentenced him to 15 years‑to‑life for murder plus concurrent shorter terms for the other convictions.
On appeal the Sixth District affirmed the convictions but held the trial court erred by not merging the endangering‑children conviction with the felony‑murder conviction (both arising from the same conduct), and remanded for resentencing under R.C. 2941.25.

Issue	State's Argument	Henderson's Argument	Held
Whether felonious assault conviction was against the manifest weight of the evidence	Evidence (autopsy, trauma, Henderson’s internet searches and admissions) established he knowingly caused serious physical harm	Evidence did not show knowledge; searches reflect recklessness or post‑hoc worry, and explanations for injury were innocent	Felonious assault conviction was not against the manifest weight; conviction affirmed
Whether the trial court erred by failing to instruct/consider the lesser included offense of involuntary manslaughter	Not applicable in bench trial; evidence supported knowing conduct so lesser not reasonably supported	Trial court should have considered involuntary manslaughter as a lesser included offense	No error; bench court presumed to consider lesser offenses and evidence did not reasonably support lesser verdict
Whether endangering children and felony murder should merge for sentencing under allied‑offenses law	The state argued convictions could stand separately or be sentenced concurrently	Henderson argued the endangering‑children conviction was the predicate for felony murder and the offenses are allied and must merge	Error to not merge: court found endangering children was the predicate for felony murder and the offenses were of similar import committed by the same conduct and animus; remand for resentencing

State v. Martin, 20 Ohio App.3d 172 (Ohio App. 1983) (standard for weighing evidence/manifest weight review)
State v. Thomas, 70 Ohio St.2d 79 (Ohio 1982) (credibility and weight of evidence for trier of fact)
State v. Mills, 62 Ohio St.3d 357 (Ohio 1992) (deference to trial court on credibility findings)
State v. Kilby, 50 Ohio St.2d 21 (Ohio 1977) (test for lesser‑included offense instruction)
State v. Thomas, 40 Ohio St.3d 213 (Ohio 1988) (when lesser‑included instruction is required)
State v. Johnson, 128 Ohio St.3d 153 (Ohio 2010) (two‑part allied‑offenses test)
State v. Brown, 119 Ohio St.3d 447 (Ohio 2008) (discussion of single act/single state of mind)
State v. Ruff, 143 Ohio St.3d 114 (Ohio 2015) (three‑question approach to allied‑offenses: import, separate conduct, separate animus)
State v. Williams, 134 Ohio St.3d 482 (Ohio 2012) (de novo review of merger determinations)