State v. Walker, 2021 Ohio 3860

Background

Malcolm Walker was charged with murder, felonious assault (merged into murder at sentencing), and possessing a weapon while under disability arising from a February 20, 2019 shooting that killed S.B.
Witness Ra.H. testified she observed Walker shoot S.B. in the head while S.B. was on his hands and knees; she identified Walker in a photo array the same night.
Forensic evidence: six shell casings from the apartment/hallway matched two firearms later recovered from a yard; videos from Walker’s phone show him holding two handguns shortly before the shooting; autopsy showed multiple gunshot wounds including a head shot consistent with being shot from above while on hands and knees.
Walker testified and claimed he acted in self-defense after an altercation with S.B.; he was convicted by a jury of murder and weapons-under-disability and sentenced to an aggregate 21 years to life (15-to-life for murder + mandatory 3-year firearm specification + consecutive 3-year disability term).
On appeal Walker raised four issues: (1) trial court failed to make all R.C. 2929.14(C)(4) findings in the sentencing entry; (2) ineffective assistance for not filing a motion to waive costs; (3) insufficiency of the evidence (arguing the State failed to disprove his self-defense); and (4) manifest-weight challenge to the convictions.
The appellate court affirmed the convictions on the merits, found the sentencing entry omitted a required course-of-conduct finding and remanded for resentencing; the ineffective-assistance/costs issue was rendered moot by the remand.

Issues

Issue	State's Argument	Walker's Argument	Held
Whether the trial court made required R.C. 2929.14(C)(4) findings before imposing consecutive sentences	Court made required findings at the hearing; omission in the entry could be corrected by nunc pro tunc	Sentencing entry failed to include required course-of-conduct finding, making consecutive sentence contrary to law	Court: hearing lacked an explicit finding that offenses were part of one or more courses of conduct; remanded for resentencing (consecutive sentence reversal in part)
Whether counsel was ineffective for failing to file a motion to waive costs	No costs were actually imposed at sentencing, so no prejudice; issue can be addressed on remand	Counsel was ineffective for not moving to waive court costs	Court: no costs were imposed; claim moot in light of resentencing; ineffective-assistance claim not sustained
Whether the State produced sufficient evidence given Walker’s self-defense claim (post-amendment R.C. 2901.05)	Burden of production for self-defense remains with defendant; sufficiency review limited to elements of the charged offenses	State failed to disprove self-defense so evidence was insufficient for murder and weapons convictions	Court: agreed with State; sufficiency review limited to proving offense elements; evidence supported murder and weapons-under-disability convictions
Whether verdicts were against the manifest weight of the evidence due to Walker’s self-defense testimony	Eyewitness, forensic, and digital evidence supported the jury’s verdict; Walker’s credibility an issue for the jury	Walker’s testimony established self-defense and should have led to acquittal	Court: not an exceptional case; jury’s credibility determinations reasonable; manifest-weight challenges denied

Key Cases Cited

State v. Bonnell, 140 Ohio St.3d 209 (trial court must make required statutory findings before imposing consecutive terms)
State v. Beasley, 153 Ohio St.3d 497 (trial court must include findings in both the sentencing hearing and the journal entry)
State v. Qualls, 131 Ohio St.3d 499 (clerical omission of findings in the entry may be corrected by nunc pro tunc when the findings were made in open court)
State v. Hancock, 108 Ohio St.3d 57 (sufficiency review does not require the State to disprove affirmative defenses)
Caldwell v. Russell, 181 F.3d 731 (proof of an affirmative defense does not negate elements of an offense)
State v. Whitfield, 124 Ohio St.3d 319 (effect of allied-offense merger on convictions and sentencing)
State v. Thompkins, 78 Ohio St.3d 380 (standard for manifest-weight review and exceptionality for reversal)
State v. Martin, 20 Ohio App.3d 172 (new trial for manifest-weight error limited to exceptional cases)
State v. Martz, 163 Ohio App.3d 780 (self-defense not a defense to weapons-under-disability where possession predated the incident)