STATE OF OHIO, JEFFERSON COUNTY v. STEDMUND CREECH
CASE NO. 13 JE 41
IN THE COURT OF APPEALS SEVENTH DISTRICT
September 9, 2014
2014-Ohio-4004
VUKOVICH, J.
JUDGMENT: Reversed and Remanded.
APPEARANCES:
For Plaintiff-Appellee: Attorney Jane Hanlin, Prosecuting Attorney, 16001 State Route 7, Steubenville, Ohio 43952
For Defendant-Appellant: Attorney Timothy Young, Ohio Public Defender, Attorney Stephen Hardwick, Assistant Ohio Public Defender, 250 East Broad Street, Suite 1400, Columbus, Ohio 43215
JUDGES: Hon. Joseph J. Vukovich, Hon. Gene Donofrio, Hon. Cheryl L. Waite
{2} For the reasons expressed in depth below, we hold that the trial court erred in failing to accept the stipulation. Thus, the conviction and sentence are hereby reversed and the matter is remanded for a new trial.
Statement of the Case
{3} On the afternoon of July 2, 2012, Antonio Johnson, driving a white car, followed a car being driven by Trystn Hampton. De‘Lesha Thorn was sitting in the front passenger seat of Hampton‘s vehicle and Creech, Rolland “Buster” Owens and another man that goes by the name “J” were in the backseat. Hampton stopped the car on Orchard Street, a residential street, to let the three men out of the car. At that point, Johnson exited his car and shot 17 rounds from an AK-47 at Creech, J and/or Owens. Creech, J and/or Owens allegedly returned fire. Bullets penetrated two different houses and the car that was driven by Johnson, however, no one was harmed during this midday shooting.1
{4} As a result of that shooting, Creech, who was a convicted felon, was indicted on two counts of having weapons while under disability in violation of
{5} Following discovery, the case proceeded to trial. The state produced testimony from officers and BCI investigators that established that 17 AK-47 casings were found at the scene and one .38 caliber bullet was removed from the backseat/trunk area of Johnson‘s car. Tr. 105, 108, 175. One eyewitness, Stephanie Luke, testified that Creech, Owens and J each had a gun during the shoot-out. Tr. 152. She stated that Creech and J were walking toward where the gunfire came from. Tr. 151. However, she stated that she could not see if Creech, J, or Owens fired their weapons. Tr. 154.
{6} After the state‘s case-in-chief, Creech moved for a Crim.R. 29 judgment of acquittal. The trial court granted the motion on the improper handling of a firearm in a vehicle and the carrying a concealed weapon charges, but denied the motion on the having weapons while under disability charges. Tr. 186, 188.
{7} The defense then presented its case. Rolland “Buster” Owens testified on Creech‘s behalf. He indicated that while he had a gun that day, Creech did not. Tr. 197. He claimed that Creech got back in the car and drove away with Hampton. Tr. 195.
{8} Despite the conflicting testimony, the jury found Creech guilty of all weapons while under disability charges. The trial court found that the offenses were allied offenses of similar import and merged them. Thus, Creech received one 30-month sentence for the conviction.
{9} Creech timely appeals from that conviction and sentence.
First Assignment of Error
{10} “The trial court erred when it did not require the State to stipulate to Mr. Creech‘s indictment and prior convictions.”
{11} Immediately prior to trial, Creech orally moved to stipulate to the disability in any one of the three having weapons while under disability counts. Tr. 5. Creech agreed to such stipulation because there was only one weapon and one event,
{12} The state opposed his motion. It argued that the state should be allowed to present its evidence regarding all of the forms of disability and then, after any guilty verdicts, it would elect which having weapons while under disability charge it was pursuing for sentencing. It further added that the instruction at the end of the case advised the jury to only consider the fact of his previous conviction or the fact that he was under indictment for the purposes of determining whether the status element of the having weapons while under disability was proven, and that the previous conviction/indictment should not be used for any other purpose. Tr. 7.
{13} The trial court denied Creech‘s motion and stated that the state is not required to elect at the start of the trial and it is not required to accept the stipulation. Tr. 8.
{14} On appeal, Creech asserts that the trial court erred when it failed to accept the stipulations.
{15} In 1997, the United States Supreme Court was asked to decide whether a district court abuses its discretion if it “spurns an offer to stipulate to a prior conviction” that holds the penalty that the offender cannot possess a firearm and instead allow the admittance of “the full record of a prior judgment, when the name or nature of the prior offense raises the risk of verdict tainted by improper considerations, and when the purpose of the evidence is solely to prove the element of prior conviction.” Old Chief v. U.S., 519 U.S. 172, 117 S.Ct. 644 (1997).
{16} In Old Chief, the defendant was charged with possession of a firearm while under disability in violation of
{17} The High Court, however, disagreed and reversed. In a 5-4 decision, the Court found that the judgment entry that revealed the name and character of Old Chief‘s prior offense should have been excluded under Federal Rule of Evidence 403. The Court found that there was “no cognizable difference between the evidentiary significance of the admission and of the legitimately probative component of the official record the prosecution would prefer to place in evidence.” Id. at 191. However, for purposes of Rule 403 weighing of the probative against the prejudicial, the prejudicial effect of admitting the judgment entry outweighed the probative value. This was because the risk inherent in the admission of the judgment entry “will lure the jury into a sequence of bad character reasoning.” Id. at 185. The stipulation, however, does not have this risk. Thus, the Court stated, “[i]n this case, as in any other in which the prior conviction is for an offense likely to support conviction on some improper ground, the only reasonable conclusion was that the risk of unfair prejudice did substantially outweigh the discounted probative value of the record of conviction, and it was an abuse of discretion to admit the record when an admission was available.” Id. at 191.
{18} In reaching this conclusion, the Court acknowledged that it was creating an exception to the general rule. The general rule is that the prosecution is entitled to prove its case by evidence of its own choice; a criminal defendant may not stipulate or admit his way out of the full evidentiary force of the case as the government chooses to present it. Id. at 186-187. The reason for this general rule “is to permit the party ‘to present to the jury a picture of the events relied upon. To substitute for such a picture a naked admission might have the effect to rob the evidence of much of its fair and legitimate weight.‘” Id. at 187. “Unlike an abstract premise, whose force depends on
{19} Numerous Ohio Appellate Districts have been asked to apply the Old Chief reasoning to Ohio statutes. The majority of the districts have declined to do so. State v. Robinson III, 6th Dist. No. L-10-1369, 2012-Ohio-6068, ¶ 41-50 (having weapons while under disability -
{20} In declining to follow the Old Chief reasoning, these courts first acknowledge that Old Chief is not grounded in any constitutional principle. Rather, the decision is based on the language in
{21} These appellate districts then explain that Old Chief is distinguishable because of the differences between the Ohio statute and the Federal statute. The Ohio statute for having weapons while under disability,
{22} That said, the Eleventh Appellate District has applied the Old Chief exception. State v. Hatfield, 11th Dist. No. 2006-A-0033, 2007-Ohio-7130, ¶ 141-148 (DUI). See also State v. Melton, 11th Dist. No. 2009-L-078, 2010-Ohio-1278, ¶ 60-72 (Trial court accepted stipulation for prior conviction for having weapons while under disability charge and gave limiting instruction about purpose of stipulation. Appellate court affirmed that action was in compliance with Old Chief). In Hatfield, the defendant was convicted of vehicular homicide and aggravated vehicular homicide. The defense admitted by stipulation that Hatfield was driving with a suspended license at the time of the offense. Evidence of Hatfield‘s suspensions were not relevant to prove the elements of the offenses, however, it was necessary and relevant to increase the severity of the aggravated vehicular homicide charge from a felony three to a felony two. Hatfield at ¶ 139. The trial court, however, rejected the stipulation and allowed evidence of his seven license suspensions to go to the jury. The appellate court found that the trial court erred:
* * *
The admission of appellant‘s history of convictions for driving under suspension serves as a textbook instance of the problem Old Chief was designed to prohibit. * * * Put another way, the history was admitted to illustrate appellant had a propensity to behave in defiance of the law which, in the court‘s view, would allow for an inference of “heedless indifference” or recklessness. Admitting the record for the purpose articulated by the trial court allowed the jury to generalize appellant‘s earlier bad acts into evidence of appellant‘s bad character which raised the likelihood that the jury will convict appellant for crimes other than those charged or, perhaps even worse, convict because appellant is a “bad person” deserving punishment. Id. at 181.
{23} Given the differing views of the Appellate Districts2 as to the application of Old Chief, the Ohio Supreme Court, at one point, accepted the following certified question:
Does the holding of Old Chief v. United States (1997), 519 U.S. 172, 117 S.Ct. 644, 136 L.Ed.2d 574, granting a right to a Defendant to stipulate to prior criminal convictions apply to state law prosecutions, or is it limited solely to the prosecutions under federal law?
State v. Baker, 123 Ohio St.3d 1516, 2009-Ohio-6486, 918 N.E.2d 161 (appeal of the Ninth Appellate District‘s Baker decision, 2008-Ohio-1909 (weapons case) was
{24} That appeal, however, was later dismissed as improvidently certified. State v. Baker, 126 Ohio St.3d 1215, 2010-Ohio-3235, 931 N.E.2d 122, ¶ 1. Three of the justices dissented to that dismissal. Id. at ¶ 2-6 (Lundberg Stratton, J., Brown, J., and Pfeifer, J.). Those three justices asserted that the case should not have been dismissed and further stated that they would have adopted the holdings of Old Chief and applied “the reasoning of Old Chief to the Ohio statute.” Id. at ¶ 6 (dissent).
{25} The issue of whether the Old Chief reasoning applies to
{26} Here, it is undisputed that Creech is disabled for purposes of
{27} In proving the admitted legal status his disability, the state introduced three instances of bad conduct by Creech - felonious assault with a firearm, possession of crack cocaine and trafficking cocaine near a school. While that evidence should have been used only to prove he was disabled, the fear is that cumulative evidence of wrongdoing imprinted on the jurors’ minds and lured the jury into concluding that since Creech committed previous crimes and is currently under indictment for another crime, he must have committed this crime. Thus, the prejudicial effect of admitting the governmental record to show the legal status of his disability is clear.
{28} The state, however, asserts that the prejudicial effect of the government records did not outweigh the probative value. At oral argument it explained that the term “disability” as used in the weapons while under disability statute is foreign to the average juror. It contended that it helped the jury understand what a disability was by presenting the disabilities to the jury. While it may be true that the average layman does not know what disability means in this context, we disagree with the state‘s proposition that accepting a stipulation to a disability would make it more difficult for the court to explain the concept and/or for the jury to understand it. If a stipulation is accepted, a simple definition of disability could be provided, the jury would be instructed that the element of disability in the having weapons while under disability is met and that it must decide whether the remaining elements are met, which are did the defendant knowingly acquire, have, carry or use any firearm or dangerous ordnance and was the firearm or dangerous ordnance operable.
{29} Therefore, although the prosecution has great latitude in general to prove its case, in cases involving a stipulation as to legal status the prosecution must
{30} This, however, does not mean that the matter must necessarily be remanded for a new trial; if the error is deemed to be harmless the result of the trial may stand. See Old Chief at 192 (remanding for a harmless error review). Pursuant to the harmless error doctrine, “Any error, defect, irregularity, or variance which does not affect substantial rights shall be disregarded.” Crim.R. 52(B).
{31} In order to find a person guilty of
{32} Creech acknowledges that he is under disability and is not permitted to possess a firearm. Thus, the only elements at issue are whether he had a gun and if it was operable.
{33} At trial, two eye witnesses testified. The first, Stephanie Luke, testified that Creech had a gun, but that she did not see him fire it. She stated that Creech and J walked up the street toward the area where Johnson was shooting. Tr. 151. The second eye witness was Owens. He testified that Creech did not have a gun and that
{34} The state asserted at trial that Luke‘s testimony shows that Creech was walking up the street towards the place Johnson was firing his gun. Creech‘s gun was visible to Luke. Thus, it can be concluded that his gun was drawn during this act.
{35} However, given that there is conflicting evidence as to whether Creech had a gun and given the prejudicial effect of the admission of his prior bad acts to prove the element of disability, we cannot conclude that the error in this case is harmless error.
{36} Consequently, for those reasons, this assignment of error has merit.
Second Assignment of Error
{37} “The trial court erred by failing to provide a specific curative instruction after the jury was led past Stedmund Creech while he was in handcuffs and shackles.”
{38} Although our resolution of the first assignment of error renders this assignment of error meritless, in the interests of justice, it is still addressed.
{39} Prior to trial, Creech was led through the hallway of the courthouse handcuffed and shackled. It is claimed that potential jurors were sitting in the hallway and saw him. Thus, prior to trial, Creech orally requested a corrective instruction with particular regard to the presumption of innocence. Tr. 6.
{40} The state contended that there is always an instruction on the presumption of innocence starting at the “beginning of the trial and all the way through the end.” Tr. 7-8. It was the state‘s position that no other instruction was needed.
{41} The trial court denied the request. Tr. 8-9. It stated that the “instruction of presumption of innocence and things of that nature will adequately cover that.” Tr. 9.
{43} Creech, however, was not shackled and handcuffed during trial. Rather, the potential jury saw him for a brief period of time in the hallway outside the courtroom. “The inadvertent sighting by jurors of a handcuffed accused outside of the courtroom does not create a per se mistrial.” State v. Linkous, 5th Dist. No. 08CA51, 2009-Ohio-1896, ¶ 67. The accused must present evidence that the jury was tainted by the sighting. Id.; State v. Payton (Aug. 8, 1994), 12th Dist. No. 93-12-028, 1994 WL 409621 (Aug. 8, 1994). Thus, in order to prevail on this issue, Creech must demonstrate prejudice. State v. McKnight, 107 Ohio St.3d 101, 2005-Ohio-6046, 837 N.E.2d 315, ¶ 219.
{44} In this instance, the potential jurors’ view of Creech in handcuffs and shackles, was brief, inadvertent and outside the courtroom. Consequently, the danger of prejudice is slight. State v. Kidder, 32 Ohio St.3d 279, 285-286, 513 N.E.2d 311 (1987) (“The danger of prejudice to defendants is slight where a juror‘s view of defendants in custody is brief, inadvertent and outside the courtroom.“); McKnight at ¶ 220 (appellant was not deprived of a fair trial when jury was given curative instruction and only observed appellant in handcuffs on one occasion); State v. Tate, 9th Dist. No. 21943, 2005-Ohio-2156, ¶ 9, citing Kennedy v. Cardwell, 487 F.2d 101, 109 (6 Cir.1973) (where the defendant is seen in shackles for a short period of time in the courtroom, the degree of prejudice to the defendant in this situation is certainly much less than in the situation where the accused sits throughout his trial before the jury in
There is no merit to the contention that the court should have granted a mistrial because some of the jurors saw the defendants in handcuffs as they passed through the hall. * * * It is normal and regular as well as a highly desirable and necessary practice to handcuff prisoners when they are being taken from one place to another, and the jury is aware of this. This is necessary to prevent an escape and possible injury to others in an escape attempt. No prejudice was shown and the court did not err in refusing to grant a mistrial.
State v. Morris, 4th Dist. No. 1097, 1982 WL 3380 (Feb. 18, 1982) (prejudicial error could have been discovered and corrected during the voir dire of the jury panel, but appellant made no attempt to discover whether members of the jury panel noticed him in custody in the hallway outside the courtroom), quoting U.S. v. Leach (8th Cir. 1970) 429 F. 2d 956 (8th Cir.1970).
{45} Furthermore, the allegation is that potential jurors saw him in handcuffs. It is not clear that any actual juror saw him in handcuffs and shackles.
{46} Moreover, the trial court did give presumption of innocence instructions twice. The first one was given during voir dire:
Okay. Now, as I said, this is a criminal case. The burden of proof will be upon the State of Ohio to prove each element of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt. Later on I will give you some instructions as to how you are to assess that, but you need to be aware that at this time the defendant is presumed innocent, and he is continued with that presumption of innocence until there has been evidence introduced which would convince you beyond a reasonable doubt that he would be guilty.
Tr. 24-25.
{47} The second presumption of innocence instruction was given at the end of the trial as part of the instructions on the law:
As to burden of proof: The defendant is presumed innocent until his guilt is established beyond a reasonable doubt. The defendant must be acquitted unless the State produced evidence which convinces you beyond a reasonable doubt of every essential element of the offense charged in the indictment.
{48} Jurors are presumed to follow the trial court‘s instructions. Pang v. Minch, 53 Ohio St.3d 186, 559 N.E.2d 1313 (1990), paragraph four of the syllabus.
{49} Consequently, considering all the above, the trial court did not err in failing to give a specific curative instruction about the shackles and handcuffs (which the jurors might not have seen). There is no basis for granting a new trial under this assignment of error. This assignment of error lacks merit.
Conclusion
{50} In conclusion, the second assignment of error lack merits. However, the first assignment of error has merit. The trial court abused its discretion when it failed to accept the stipulation. This error was not harmless. Thus, the conviction and sentence are hereby reversed and the matter is remanded for a new trial. Upon remand the court is instructed to accept the stipulation to all three disabilities.
Donofrio, J., concurs.
Waite, J., concurs.