State v. Starkey, 2017 Ohio 9327

Background

Defendant Kyle W. M. Starkey was indicted for murder, felonious assault, tampering with evidence, gross abuse of a corpse, and domestic violence after Mandy Gottschalk’s body was found buried near his home; trial resulted in convictions on murder (Count Two), felonious assault, tampering with evidence, and domestic violence.
Key eyewitness: Ryan McBride (cohabitant/friend) testified Starkey repeatedly punched and kicked Gottschalk until she was dead, helped clean the scene, wrapped the body in a new tarp, and aided in burying it; McBride later accepted a plea agreement.
Forensic and physical evidence: blood spatter and Gottschalk’s blood at the residence, a tarp package and duct tape consistent with McBride’s account, Starkey’s DNA on some items, maggots and a tarp/gloves found in a backpack, and autopsy concluding homicide by blunt force trauma.
Defense evidence questioned timing and interpretation of injuries (defense pathologist testified inability to determine cause of death) and highlighted inconsistencies in McBride’s statements; trial court also dismissed some counts prior to jury (Count One and Count Five).
Sentence: court imposed 15 years to life on the murder count and 36 months on tampering, ordered consecutive sentences (also consecutive to a prior sentence), and assessed court costs. Appeal challenges sufficiency/weight of evidence, consecutive sentence findings, venue denial, limits on cross-examination, and court-cost ability-to-pay finding.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency/weight of the evidence for assault and murder	State: McBride’s eyewitness account, corroborated by blood, DNA, tarp/duct-tape evidence, and autopsy support convictions	Starkey: McBride unreliable, inconsistent, had plea deal; forensic ambiguities and lack of injuries to defendant undermine verdict	Affirmed — evidence was sufficient and weight favored the State; jury credibility determinations upheld
Consecutive-sentencing findings under R.C. 2929.14(C)(4)	State: trial court made necessary findings at hearing and in entry, relying on defendant’s criminal history	Starkey: sentencing entry did not use the statute’s exact wording; findings insufficient	Affirmed — courts need not recite statutory text verbatim if record shows required analysis and supporting evidence (Bonnell applied)
Motion for change of venue due to pretrial publicity	State: voir dire and excusal for cause cured any prejudice; jurors who saw publicity said they could be fair	Starkey: extensive media made a fair trial impossible in county	Affirmed — no actual juror bias shown; trial court did not abuse discretion denying venue change
Right to cross-examine about unrelated prior untruthfulness	State: proposed questioning about McBride’s false military claims was irrelevant and impermissible impeachment on collateral matter	Starkey: needed to expose general untruthfulness to impeach credibility under Confrontation Clause	Affirmed — trial court properly limited irrelevant cross-examination; exclusion (if error) harmless given ample impeachment elsewhere

Key Cases Cited

State v. Jenks, 61 Ohio St.3d 259 (1991) (standard for sufficiency of evidence following Jackson)
Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (1979) (reasonable-doubt sufficiency standard)
State v. Wilson, 113 Ohio St.3d 382 (2007) (distinguishing sufficiency and weight of the evidence)
State v. Thompkins, 78 Ohio St.3d 380 (1997) (weight-of-the-evidence standard and manifest miscarriage framework)
State v. Bonnell, 140 Ohio St.3d 209 (2014) (trial court need not recite statutory language verbatim for consecutive-sentence findings)
State v. Landrum, 53 Ohio St.3d 107 (1990) (change-of-venue principles and voir dire as test for bias)
State v. Treesh, 90 Ohio St.3d 460 (2001) (prejudice from pretrial publicity requires actual juror bias; presumed prejudice rare)
Delaware v. Van Arsdall, 475 U.S. 673 (1986) (Confrontation Clause allows reasonable limits on cross-examination; errors may be harmless)