State v. Lowe
2013 Ohio 3913
Ohio Ct. App.2013Background
- In July 2012 Brittany Sherrod was assaulted by Anthony Lowe after he pulled up behind her car; Lowe allegedly struck her, brandished a broken beer bottle, and then grabbed her shirt and forced her to cling to his moving car as he backed and then drove forward several house-lengths until her shirt tore and she fell.
- Brittany and her boyfriend Mahmoud Shouman testified to the incident; police and EMS responded and Lowe was treated for cuts and taken into custody.
- Lowe was indicted on felonious assault (R.C. 2903.11(A)(2)) and kidnapping (R.C. 2905.01(A)(2)). At trial the jury acquitted him of felonious assault but convicted him of kidnapping.
- The trial court sentenced Lowe to four years for kidnapping and allocated jail-time credit to a separate community-control-violation matter rather than to the kidnapping sentence.
- Lowe appealed, arguing (inter alia) insufficient evidence/manifest weight, inconsistency between verdicts, erroneous denial of jail-time credit, and ineffective assistance of counsel. The court of appeals affirmed.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument (State) | Defendant's Argument (Lowe) | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sufficiency of evidence for kidnapping | Evidence showed force/restraint to facilitate flight after assault | State failed to prove elements beyond a reasonable doubt | Conviction supported; evidence sufficient |
| Manifest weight of evidence | Victim and witness testimony credible and corroborated | Jury lost its way; acquittal on assault undermines kidnapping verdict | Not against manifest weight; conviction stands |
| Inconsistent verdicts (acquitted of assault but convicted of kidnapping) | Kidnapping requires only restraint to facilitate a felony or flight, not a separate felony conviction | Verdicts inconsistent; kidnapping depends on assault finding | Inconsistent verdicts permissible; kidnapping conviction valid |
| Jail-time credit allocation | Court properly applied credit to community-control-violation term given timing and separate nature of that confinement | Credit should have reduced the kidnapping sentence | Allocation upheld as not plain error under facts; credit properly applied to prior community-control matter |
| Ineffective assistance for not arguing Crim.R. 29 motions | State met its burden on kidnapping; counsel argued renewed motion though court cut him off | Counsel failed to adequately argue Crim.R. 29, prejudicing outcome | Claim rejected; no deficient performance or prejudice shown |
Key Cases Cited
- State v. Leonard, 104 Ohio St.3d 54 (court explains sufficiency standard under Jenks)
- State v. Jenks, 61 Ohio St.3d 259 (establishes Ohio sufficiency-of-the-evidence standard)
- State v. Thompkins, 78 Ohio St.3d 380 (describes manifest-weight standard)
- Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (establishes two-prong test for ineffective assistance)
- State v. Fugate, 117 Ohio St.3d 261 (jail-time credit rules and equal protection principles)
- State v. Lovejoy, 79 Ohio St.3d 440 (verdict inconsistency principles)