State v. Myers (Slip Opinion), 114 N.E.3d 1138

Background

Defendant Austin Myers and codefendant Timothy Mosley planned and executed the killing of Justin Back during an attempted theft of Mark Cates’s safe; Mosley stabbed Back and Myers restrained him; they stole property, attempted to destroy evidence, and disposed of the body.
Mosley pleaded guilty and testified for the state; his contemporaneous notebook and other physical evidence (receipts, items found, septic enzymes on body) corroborated planning and preparation.
Myers was indicted on aggravated murder with prior calculation and design and multiple related counts and specifications; jury convicted on all counts and recommended death; trial court imposed death sentence.
On appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court, Myers advanced 18 propositions claiming errors including unlawful shackling, Miranda/suppression issues, discovery violations/Brady, evidentiary rulings, prosecutorial misconduct, ineffective assistance, and Eighth Amendment challenges to the death sentence.
The Ohio Supreme Court reviewed the record, denied all claims, conducted an independent sentencing review finding statutory mitigating factors (youth, lack of significant prior record, not principal offender) but concluded aggravating circumstance (murder in course of aggravated robbery) outweighed mitigation and affirmed convictions and death sentence.

Issues

Issue	Myers' Argument	State's Argument	Held
Shackling/Due process (Deck)	Trial court erred by ordering leg shackles visible/audible to jury, denying fair trial	Restraints were least-restrictive, courtroom procedures and modesty panel kept shackles from jury view	No abuse of discretion; shackles not visible to jury and claim of juror awareness speculative; no Deck violation
Miranda/suppression of statements	Early custodial interrogation without warnings; later waivers invalid; invocation of counsel violated	First interview occurred while not in custody; later warnings were given and volunteered statements constituted implied waivers; defendant reinitiated after invoking counsel	Statements admissible: first interview not custodial; later statements followed proper Miranda warnings or were initiated by defendant after invocation, and were voluntary
Discovery/Brady, continuance, handwriting expert	State delayed disclosure of Mosley plea and notebook; late disclosure prejudiced defense; court abused discretion by denying continuance and handwriting expert	State disclosed as soon as available; court held hearing on late items and exercised discretion; defendant showed no prejudice	No Brady or discovery abuse; denial of continuance and expert not an abuse—defense failed to show particularized need or resulting prejudice
Evidentiary rulings (notebook, photographs, leading questions)	Notebook admission improper and prejudicial; autopsy photos cumulative; prosecutor led witnesses	Notebook authenticated by Mosley; corroborative and probative; photos relevant to cause of death and not unduly repetitive; few leading questions, most unobjected	Admission of notebook and photos upheld; no plain error shown on leading-question claims
Sufficiency/Weight of evidence	Convictions rest solely on untrustworthy Mosley testimony and are insufficient/against weight	Mosley’s testimony was corroborated by physical evidence, receipts, conduct; jury properly credited it	Evidence legally sufficient and not against manifest weight; convictions affirmed
Sentencing: Eighth Amendment/proportionality and mitigation	Death sentence disproportionate relative to Mosley (life) and defendant’s youth/mental-health history	Myers actively planned and participated; statutory review and independent weighing required; co-defendant sentences not dispositive	Court found statutory mitigators (youth; lack of significant record; not principal) but gave them modest weight; aggravator (robbery-murder) outweighed mitigation beyond reasonable doubt; death sentence proportional and affirmed
Ineffective assistance of counsel	Multiple alleged strategic failures at guilt and penalty phases prejudiced defense	Strategic choices were reasonable; defendant failed to show what omitted evidence/experts would have produced or prejudice under Strickland	No deficiency or prejudice shown; ineffective-assistance claims rejected

Key Cases Cited

Deck v. Missouri, 544 U.S. 622 (2005) (visible physical restraints at trial require case-specific justification)
Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966) (custodial interrogation requires warnings)
Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U.S. 477 (1981) (post-invocation interrogation barred unless defendant initiates further communication)
Berghuis v. Thompkins, 560 U.S. 370 (2010) (an uncoerced statement after Miranda warnings can constitute an implied waiver)
Butler v. North Carolina, 441 U.S. 369 (1979) (Miranda waiver need not be written or express)
Colorado v. Connelly, 479 U.S. 157 (1986) (coercive police activity is required to find a confession involuntary under due process)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984) (two-prong standard for ineffective assistance of counsel)
Roper v. Simmons, 543 U.S. 551 (2005) (categorical bar to death penalty for offenders under 18)
Atkins v. Virginia, 536 U.S. 304 (2002) (categorical bar to death penalty for intellectually disabled offenders)
Panetti v. Quarterman, 551 U.S. 930 (2007) (execution prohibited if prisoner lacks rational understanding of execution)
Pulley v. Harris, 465 U.S. 37 (1984) (no federal requirement of comparative proportionality review in capital cases)