State v. Richardson, 2013 Ohio 1953

Appellant Walter Tyler Richardson was convicted by bench trial in Clermont County for safecracking, grand theft, burglary, and related offenses arising from a home burglary at Jermaine Carlock's residence and from tampering with Carlock's saf e.
Police found jewelry belonging to Carlock on Richardson and footprints matching his shoes outside Carlock's home.
Eric Lewis testified Richardson helped burglarize Carlock's home and that Carlock's safe was in the front yard, later moved to Lewis's car.
The safe weighed approximately 500–600 pounds and was unopened; there was no evidence the safe had been opened.
Richardson was indicted on three counts of burglary, one count of theft, two counts of grand theft, and one count of safecracking; Lewis testified against him at trial.
The trial court convicted Richardson of two burglaries, one theft, one grand theft, and one safecracking, and sentenced him to 16 years and 9 months in prison.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether there was sufficient evidence Richardson tampered with the safe	Richardson argues no entry, force, or tampering/prohibited conduct occurred	Prosecution contends moving the safe constitutes tampering under safecracking	Tampering found; sufficient evidence for safecracking
Whether grand theft and safecracking are allied offenses meriting merger	State contends they are allied offenses of similar import	Richardson argues they are not necessarily allied due to separate acts/animus	Offenses are allied; merger required on remand; sentencing reversed in part and remanded for resentencing

State v. Wilson, 12th Dist. No. CA2006-01-007 (2007-Ohio-2298) (sufficiency review standard; defer to trier of fact's credibility)
State v. Haney, 12th Dist. No. CA2005-07-068 (2006-Ohio-3899) (sufficiency of evidence; standard for reviewing convictions)
State v. Tenace, 109 Ohio St.3d 255 (2006-Ohio-2417) (standard for sufficiency and deference to jury)
Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 ((1979)) (federal standard for sufficiency of evidence)
State v. Benge, 75 Ohio St.3d 136 (1996) (credibility not to be substituted by appellate court)
State v. Kormos, 2012-Ohio-3128 (2012-Ohio-3128) (statutory interpretation of tamper/related issues (de novo))
State v. Johnson, 128 Ohio St.3d 153 (2010-Ohio-6314) (two-part test for allied offenses under R.C. 2941.25)
State v. Crosby, 2011-Ohio-4907 (12th Dist.) (distinguishes Crosby’s application to safecracking based on entry versus tampering)
State v. Whitfield, 124 Ohio St.3d 319 (2010-Ohio-2) (merger framework for allied offenses)
State v. Marlow, 2013-Ohio-778 (12th Dist.) (remand option when merger requires choosing allied offense)
State v. Edwards, 2013-Ohio-1290 (11th Dist.) (case-specific allied-offenses analysis)