State v. Parker, 2017 Ohio 4382

Background

Early May 2015: Terrance Parker arrived uninvited at ex-girlfriend Melinda Gregory’s apartment after she had ended their relationship and texted him to stay away.
At the scene Parker allegedly knocked and tapped on windows, threatened the occupants, slashed Gregory’s car tire, brandished a knife, punched Gregory, smashed her cell phone, and took cash that fell from the phone case; a witness (Tracey Smelley) was present but not called at trial.
Gregory saved a screenshot of a later text from Parker that she interpreted as a threat to Smelley; BCI analysis showed Parker deleted that text from his phone.
Parker was indicted on nine counts (including felonious assault, aggravated robbery, two robberies, two intimidation counts, menacing by stalking, and disrupting public services); he was acquitted on four counts and convicted of two robberies, intimidation of a witness, menacing by stalking, and disrupting public services.
Sentenced to an aggregate 12.5 years (after merger of the robbery counts and various consecutive/concurrent rulings); Parker appealed, arguing insufficiency/manifest-weight for certain convictions, improper failure to merge allied offenses (and ineffective assistance for not raising merger), and erroneous denial of severance of the stalking count.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency & manifest weight of robbery convictions	State: testimony and corroborating witnesses proved theft of phone and cash while Parker had a knife and used force/threat	Parker: no concurrence of mens rea for theft with possession/use of weapon; hence convictions lack support	Held: Evidence (Gregory, Izenour, neighbor, officer) sufficed; convictions not against manifest weight
Sufficiency & manifest weight of intimidation-of-witness conviction	State: Parker’s text was an unlawful threat aimed at a witness to a criminal act (Smelley); Gregory’s interpretation and dissemination to Smelley supports conviction	Parker: the threat was not against a witness in a pending criminal action and Smelley did not testify, so statute inapplicable	Held: Court applied the amended R.C. §2921.04(B)(2) definition (witness to a criminal act) and found sufficient evidence; not against manifest weight
Allied-offenses/merger (menacing by stalking with robbery; disrupting public services with robbery) and related ineffective-assistance claim	State: offenses were distinct in time, victims, and harm (stalking conduct preceded the robbery; smashing the phone impaired communications separate from theft)	Parker: offenses are of similar import and should have merged; counsel was ineffective for not arguing merger	Held: No plain error—offenses were separate in conduct/animus; counsel not ineffective
Severance of menacing-by-stalking count	State: joinder proper; evidence of defendant’s statements and conduct admissible even if counts severed; no undue prejudice	Parker: joinder allowed admission of prior-conviction evidence (prejudicial) that would be inadmissible otherwise	Held: Trial court did not abuse discretion; defendant failed to show prejudice; plaintiff’s evidence admissible and distinct across counts

Key Cases Cited

State v. Thompkins, 78 Ohio St.3d 380 (distinguishes sufficiency and weight-of-evidence standards)
State v. Robinson, 162 Ohio St. 486 (standard for reviewing legal sufficiency)
State v. Hill, 75 Ohio St.3d 195 (deference to jury on credibility)
State v. DeHass, 10 Ohio St.2d 230 (credibility and weight review principles)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (ineffective assistance two-prong test)
State v. Underwood, 124 Ohio St.3d 365 (plain-error review of forfeited allied-offense claims)
State v. Ruff, 143 Ohio St.3d 114 (framework for allied-offenses merger analysis)
State v. Rogers, 143 Ohio St.3d 385 (burden to show allied-offense plain error)
State v. Malone, 121 Ohio St.3d 244 (interpretation of former intimidation statute language)
State v. Schaim, 65 Ohio St.3d 51 (joinder and admissibility of other-offense evidence)