State v. Horn, 2011 Ohio 2168

Appellant Adrian Horn was convicted in Richland County Common Pleas Court of murder with a firearm specification.
Indictment charged one count of purposeful murder and one count of felony murder, each with a firearm specification.
Trial occurred May 17–21, 2010, with nine witnesses presented by the State.
The incident began July 7, 2009, when Horn assaulted Moses’s girlfriend and a confrontation ensued.
Horn threatened Moses, drew a handgun, fired once killing Moses, and a second shot occurred during a struggle.
The trial court admitted Horn’s own testimony and excluded two proffered witnesses under Evid.R. 404(B); Horn was sentenced to 18 years to life plus post-release control.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the trial court properly excluded 404(B) witnesses	State argues evidence irrelevant to voluntary manslaughter	Horn contends witnesses showed motive/intent	Exclusion affirmed; testimony irrelevant to provocation/voluntary manslaughter.
Whether trial counsel was ineffective for failing to object to witness testimony and closing arguments	State contends trial strategy was reasonable	Horn asserts deficiencies affected trial fairness	No ineffective assistance; strategy and objections were reasonable under the circumstances.

State v. Sage, 31 Ohio St.3d 173 (1987) (abuse of discretion standard for evidentiary rulings under trial court review)
Blakemore v. Blakemore, 5 Ohio St.3d 217 (1983) (abuse of discretion standard; deference to trial court)
State v. Bradley, 42 Ohio St.3d 136 (1989) (ineffective assistance framework; Strickland standard)
State v. Hand, 107 Ohio St.3d 378 (2006) (closing argument standards; permissible summation of evidence)
State v. Keene, 81 Ohio St.3d 646 (1998) (when not interrupting closing arguments is reasonable)
State v. Myers, 2002-Ohio-6658 (2002) (closing argument conduct and objecting strategy)