State v. Rodrigues, 2012 Ohio 535

January 25, 2008, Gonzalez Market owner Jose Gonzalez was killed during a robbery; Crawley witnessed a man fleeing with money.
Police found a Taurus revolver behind the counter, five spent casings, a missing money, and an empty store safe; Rodriguez implicated by information and evidence.
Rodrigues led police to a false address, fled on arrest, and had $1,210 on his person; family members reported he confessed to shooting Gonzalez.
DNA from Gonzalez’s fingernail could not be excluded as Rodrigues’ source.
Indictment charged Rodrigues with multiple counts including aggravated murder, murder, aggravated robbery, felonious assault, weapons under disability, and theft; capital murder specification and gun specs also included; bench trial by three-judge panel due to capital spec.
Three-judge panel found Rodrigues guilty of felony murder, two counts of aggravated robbery, felonious assault, theft, and having weapons while under disability; restitution issues led to prior appellate holdings; final sentencing entered February 15, 2011.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of evidence for felony murder	State argues proximate cause shown by robbery-related death.	Rodrigues contends death not a foreseeable result of underlying felony.	Sufficiency established; proximate cause reasonably foreseeable.
Manifest weight of the evidence	State asserts jury resolution supported by the record.	Rodrigues claims a misweighing of conflicting evidence warrants reversal.	Not against the weight of the evidence; verdict not clearly lost in judgment.
Allied offenses and Johnson remand	State argues proper merger analysis under Johnson not yet conducted.	Rodrigues contends possible allied offenses should merge without Johnson analysis.	Remanded for trial court to apply Johnson to determine allied-offense status and potential mergers.

State v. Jenks, 61 Ohio St.3d 259 (1991) (standard for reviewing sufficiency of evidence)
State v. Thompkins, 78 Ohio St.3d 380 (1997) (sufficiency standard: beyond a reasonable doubt)
State v. Chapman, 190 Ohio App.3d 528 (2010) (proximate-cause foreseeability in felony murder context)
State v. Fry, 125 Ohio St.3d 163 (2010) (felony-murder predicate men rea; underlying offenses)
State v. Little, 2011-Ohio-768 (2011) (self-defense considerations and liability in homicide)
State v. Gates, 2010-Ohio-2994 (2010) (admissibility and sufficiency in violent offenses)
State v. Johnson, 128 Ohio St.3d 153 (2010) (allied offenses of similar import; Johnson holding)
State v. Creel, 2011-Ohio-5893 (2011) (procedural post Johnson remand for merger analysis)
State v. Daniels, 2011-Ohio-6414 (2011) (remand for Johnson-based allied-offense analysis)
State v. Otten, 33 Ohio App.3d 339 (1986) (weight-of-the-evidence standard)
State v. Martin, 20 Ohio App.3d 172 (1983) (discretionary remand for weight-of-the-evidence concerns)