State v. Roundtree, 2021 Ohio 3825

Background

Appellant Warriayre Roundtree was indicted for kidnapping, aggravated robbery, two counts of aggravated murder, two counts of murder, tampering with evidence, and having a weapon while under disability, with firearm specifications. A jury convicted him of aggravated robbery, two counts of aggravated murder, two counts of murder, tampering with evidence (all with firearm specs), and the court found him guilty of having a weapon while under disability. Sentenced to an aggregate 36 years to life.
Victim Savaughn Conner was found dead with multiple gunshot wounds near 2169 James Road; autopsy showed fatal chest wounds and at least three recovered bullets.
Jailhouse informant R.S. (a cooperating witness) testified he was bunkmate with appellant and overheard appellant admit luring and shooting Conner, dumping the body, returning to retrieve Conner’s phone, deleting messages, breaking the phone, and disposing of the gun; R.S. received a sentence reduction for cooperating.
Cell-site and geolocation evidence tied a burner phone and appellant’s phone to locations consistent with the pick-up, dumping site, and movements described by R.S.; a surveillance video showed a passenger exit a vehicle and an object hit the ground near the dump site.
Police executed a search warrant at appellant’s home and seized firearms (including a 9 mm with extended magazine and a .45), marijuana, and impounded a Chevrolet Tahoe consistent with witness descriptions.
On appeal Roundtree challenged (1) sufficiency of the evidence, (2) manifest weight of the evidence (credibility of R.S.), and (3) a jury instruction referencing appellant’s involvement in a check-cashing scheme and alleged ineffective assistance for failing to object and for not proving R.S. had access to discovery materials; the appellate court affirmed.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (State)	Defendant's Argument (Roundtree)	Held
Sufficiency of evidence for aggravated robbery and related felony-murder counts	R.S.’s testimony corroborated by cell-site data, witness ID of appellant/Tahoe, recovered firearms, and surveillance supports that appellant shot Conner and returned to take the phone — sufficient to prove armed-robbery predicate and felony murder.	Evidence only shows a possible theft after death (retrieving phone); cannot be an aggravated robbery if victim was already dead; R.S. is unreliable.	Court: Evidence, when construed in favor of the State, was sufficient. Ohio precedent allows robbery/robbery predicate even if asportation occurs after death.
Aggravated murder with prior calculation and design	Prior bad acts, strained relationship, appellant’s admissions (planning, burner phone, leaving phone to mask location, choice of ammunition) and statements that he ‘decided’ to kill Conner show prior calculation and design.	R.S. is not credible; his testimony is the only source of admissions.	Court: Sufficient evidence of prior calculation and design; credibility is for the jury, not sufficiency review.
Manifest weight challenge (credibility of jailhouse informant)	State: corroborating physical/cell-site evidence and other witness testimony supported R.S., and jury was entitled to credit him despite incentives.	Roundtree: R.S. was a jailhouse snitch with incentive to lie; verdict is against the weight of the evidence.	Court: No manifest miscarriage of justice; jury could reasonably credit R.S.; corroboration further supports verdict.
Jury instruction re: witness’s prior conviction and related ineffective-assistance claim	Instruction was a cautionary limiting instruction and consistent with trial evidence; even if awkward, no plain error or prejudice; counsel’s failure to object was not prejudicial.	Trial court misstated that defense admitted appellant’s involvement in check scheme; counsel ineffective for failing to object and for not proving R.S. accessed discovery materials in jail.	Court: Instruction not reversible error (no plain error), and ineffective-assistance claims fail (no prejudice, and no record evidence that discovery materials existed or that R.S. accessed them).

Key Cases Cited

State v. Martin, 20 Ohio App.3d 172 (Ohio Ct. App. 1983) (standard for sufficiency review)
State v. Jenks, 61 Ohio St.3d 259 (Ohio 1991) (evidence, if believed, must support guilt beyond a reasonable doubt)
State v. Smith, 61 Ohio St.3d 284 (Ohio 1991) (property taken after a victim’s death can nevertheless support a robbery/ aggravated robbery conviction)
State v. Palmer, 80 Ohio St.3d 543 (Ohio 1997) (robbery/murder timing is immaterial for aggravated robbery/felony-murder predicate)
State v. Johnson, 112 Ohio St.3d 210 (Ohio 2006) (meaning of “while” in felony-murder statutes — death must be part of one continuous occurrence with the felony)
State v. Cooper, 52 Ohio St.2d 163 (Ohio 1977) (definition of temporal relationship for felony-murder “while” language)
State v. Hundley, 162 Ohio St.3d 509 (Ohio 2020) (prior calculation and design requires a scheme to implement a calculated decision to kill)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (U.S. 1984) (two-prong test for ineffective assistance of counsel)