State v. Priest, 2011 Ohio 4694

Appellant Gregory Priest was convicted after a June 2010 jury trial of having a weapon under disability and failure to comply with an order or signal of a police officer, following a September 2009 armed robbery at Cassano's Pizza and a pursuit involving a green Pontiac.
Witnesses described the robbery and identified Priest as the gunman; a handgun was discarded from the vehicle during the chase and later recovered in pieces.
DNA testing showed a mixed profile on the gun grip, with Priest not excluded as a contributor, while the passenger Anthony Andrews was excluded.
Priest was also involved in a high-speed pursuit reaching about 100 mph, ending with a crash into a pole; he was apprehended after fleeing on foot.
The trial court sentenced Priest to consecutive five-year terms for each conviction, totaling ten years, and Priest appealed raising three assignments of error.
On appeal, the court upheld the convictions and addressed the issues of juror bias, sufficiency of the firearm evidence, and the consecutive sentencing without specific statutory findings.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Juror for-cause dismissal	State contends juror had bias that impaired impartiality	Priest argues trial court erred in excusing juror number one for cause	No abuse; juror's bias could impair impartiality
Sufficiency of evidence for firearm under disability	State asserts appellant constructively possessed the firearm	Priest challenges sufficiency of evidence to prove possession and operability	Sufficiency established; operability and possession shown
Consecutive-sentencing findings	State relies on Hodge to support non-revival of old consecutive-sentencing requirements	Priest challenges lack of findings under restructuring statute	Consecutive sentences affirmed without need for findings under Foster/Hodge framework

Morgan v. Illinois, 504 U.S. 719 (U.S. Supreme Court, 1992) (right to impartial jury; standard for impartiality)
Adams v. Texas, 448 U.S. 38 (U.S. Supreme Court, 1980) (bias voir dire standard)
Wainwright v. Witt, 469 U.S. 412 (U.S. Supreme Court, 1985) (deference to trial judge on voir dire impartiality)
State v. White, 82 Ohio St.3d 16 (1998) (trial court credibility in judging juror impartiality)
State v. Williams, 6 Ohio St.3d 281 (1983) (broad discretion in voir dire and juror challenges)
State v. Trembly, 137 Ohio App.3d 134 (2000) (circumstantial evidence in possession and control)
State v. Murphy, 49 Ohio St.3d 206 (1990) (operability can be shown by lay testimony)
State v. Gains, 46 Ohio St.3d 65 (1989) (operability and circumstantial proof of firearms)
State v. Tenace, 109 Ohio St.3d 255 (2006) (standard for Crim.R. 29 and sufficiency review)
Jenks, 61 Ohio St.3d 259 (1991) (standard for sufficiency review of evidence)