State v. Black, Unpublished Decision (2-25-1999)
State v. Black, Unpublished Decision (2-25-1999)
Opinion of the Court
Defendant-appellant, William Terry Black, appeals the jury verdicts entered in the Mahoning County Court of Common Pleas finding him guilty of complicity to commit involuntary manslaughter and complicity to commit felonious assault, with attendant firearm specifications. For the reasons set forth below, appellant's convictions are affirmed.
The following rendition of events is a summary of Ms. Cross's testimony: Later that evening, Ms. Cross and Mr. Thomas heard appellant tapping on Mr. Thomas's window. Mr. Thomas went to let appellant in and returned with appellant and an unidentified man ("the gunman") who was holding a gun to Mr. Thomas's head. The gunman demanded money and ordered Ms. Cross and Mr. Thomas into the bedroom. Appellant told the gunman that, earlier in the day, he saw Mr. Thomas's money in a brown envelope. Mr. Thomas explained that he had no money remaining after he purchased the beer for appellant at the store. As the gunman held his gun on the victims, appellant began removing and emptying dresser drawers. Ms. Cross "pushed" $15.00 out of her pocket which the gunman retrieved. Appellant asked for the gun, but the gunman did not give it to him. Appellant hit Ms. Cross and successfully ordered the gunman to hit Mr. Thomas. Appellant told the victims that he was going to let them go this time and told the gunman to shoot Mr. Thomas in the leg.
The gunman shot Ms. Cross four times and Mr. Thomas three times. Mr. Thomas died from a gunshot wound to his chest shortly thereafter. Appellant was arrested the next day and subsequently indicted for complicity to commit aggravated murder and complicity to commit felonious assault, each with firearm specifications attached. A charge of aggravated burglary was added by a superseding indictment. A jury trial commenced, the aggravated murder charge was reduced to murder, and the superseding aggravated burglary indictment was dismissed.
At trial, appellant testified that, as he arrived at Mr. Thomas's apartment, the gunman robbed him of $7.00, made him knock on Mr. Thomas's window, and forced him into the bedroom with Mr. Thomas and Ms. Cross. Appellant claims that he escaped as the gunman began shooting and that he never called the police because he feared for his life.
On November 29, 1994, the jury found appellant not guilty of complicity to commit murder, but guilty of the lesser included offense of complicity to commit involuntary manslaughter against Mr. Thomas. The jury also returned guilty verdicts on complicity to commit felonious assault against Ms. Cross and on both firearm specifications.
Appellant was sentenced to five to twenty-five years for the involuntary manslaughter conviction and three to twenty-five years for the felonious assault conviction, both with three extra years of actual incarceration for the firearm specifications. The within appeal followed.
Appellant's first assignment of error contends:
"The trial court erred in failing to properly define for the jury the intent element in the second count of the indictment, complicity to commit felonious assault."
Appellant was convicted of complicity to commit felonious assault under R.C.
Appellant alleges that the trial court committed plain error when it listed "knowingly" as an element of felonious assault without defining it. When certain terms are specifically defined in a statute, the better practice is for the court to instruct on the specific definitions. In the portion of the charge instructing on complicity to murder, the court defined the element of purposely, which implies that the court was aware that it is appropriate to define any applicable mental states. Still, the court failed to define knowingly. While we concede that the trial court should have defined "knowingly" for the jury (see Ohio Jury Instruction 409.11, and State v.Mitchell (1989),
"A person acts knowingly, regardless of his purpose, when he is aware that his conduct will probably cause a certain result or will probably be of a certain nature." R.C.
Decisions on witness credibility are primarily for the jury.State v. DeHass (1967),
Appellant's mental culpability as it relates to Mr. Thomas will transfer to Ms. Cross, who sat on the bed next to Mr. Thomas during the robbery. "The doctrine of transferred intent is firmly rooted in Ohio law." State v. Sowell (1988),
Accordingly, we cannot say that, but for the omission of the definition of knowingly from the jury instructions, the outcome of the trial clearly would have been different. Therefore, appellant's first assignment or error is overruled.
Appellant's second assignment of error states:
"The trial court erred in failing to define proximate causation for the jury in connection with the charge of complicity to commit involuntary manslaughter."
Involuntary manslaughter, as applicable to the present case, is defined as causing the death of another as a proximate result of committing a felony. R.C.
In State v. Slagle (1992),
As explained in the analysis under appellant's first assignment of error, we prefer jury instructions which define the elements of offenses, especially when those elements have legal definitions. Terms of common usage need not be defined.State v. Riggins (1986),
Even if the jury instructions contained a legal definition of proximate result, it is not clear or even likely that a jury would find that the felonious assault of Mr. Thomas by gunshot wounds was not the proximate result of his death. Accordingly, appellant's second assignment or error is overruled.
Appellant's third assignment of error alleges:
"The trial court erred in its instructions to the jury regarding accomplice liability."
Appellant contends that it was plain error for the trial court to fail to clarify its complicity instructions after receipt of a question from the jury during its deliberation wherein the jury spokesperson stated, "Well, the question was the entire area as far as aiding and abetting, and when you read that to us what that all involved." (Tr. 524). Appellant states that the court should have read R.C.
Appellant alleges that the jury may have thought that there was no intent element for complicity. However, by stating that an aider and abetter may be prosecuted the same as if he was the principal offender and then reciting the elements involved in the principal offense, one of which is culpability, the court's instruction was adequate; although not recommended.
Moreover, even if the court had given a more detailed explanation of aiding and abetting, we cannot declare that it is clear that defendant would have been acquitted. Whether or not appellant was the gunman's accomplice was basically a credibility issue, appellant's credibility versus Ms. Cross's. Ms. Cross testified that appellant told the gunman to shoot Mr. Thomas in the leg. If believed, this statement constitutes complicity. The resolution of such a contradiction in testimony is predominately the province of the jury. DeHass, supra. Despite the fact that the more appropriate action by a jurist would have been to better clarify the jurors' question, plain error is not apparent. Accordingly, under the specific facts in the case at bar, appellant's third assignment of error is overruled.
Appellant's fourth and final assignment of error provides:
"The trial court erred in failing to grant defendant's motion for mistrial, and in failing to issue a disregard instruction, based upon prosecutorial noncompliance with Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Criminal Rule 9(B)."
Local Rule 9(B) states that the information packet given to the defense by the prosecutor must include the names and addresses of all witnesses. Ohio Crim.R. 16(B)(1)(e) states that the prosecutor must supply the defendant with the names and addresses of only those witnesses whom the prosecutor intends to call to the stand. Appellant argues that Loc.R. 9(B) is stricter than Crim.R. 16(B)(1)(e) and requires disclosure of all possible witnesses known by the prosecutor, whether or not the prosecutor will call such witnesses.
Appellant points to the excerpt in the transcript where the prosecutor asked appellant on cross-examination if his cousin, Damian Urby, was the gunman (Tr. 412) and urges us to take notice of plain error in that Mr. Urby was not disclosed on the prosecutor's witness list. The prosecutor states that appellant's attorney raised the issue of appellant's cousin when he asked a police officer and Ms. Cross if Ms. Cross originally told the police that appellant robbed her with his cousin and an unidentified man. (Tr. 215, 267).
Mahoning County's Loc.R. 9(B) is written so that its plain meaning places more stringent disclosure requirements upon the prosecutor than does Ohio's Crim.R. 16. However, even though the prosecutor had the duty to disclose Mr. Urby's name and address in the discovery packet, the court correctly ruled that the omission of and subsequent reference to Mr. Urby's name did not prejudice appellant.
Mr. Urby is appellant's cousin. It was appellant's attorney who first alluded that the cousin was a possible witness or accomplice. Accordingly, inclusion of Mr. Urby's name in the prosecutor's discovery information packet would not have benefitted appellant in preparation of his defense. SeeState v. Heinish (1990),
For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
Hon. Joseph J. Vukovich, Hon. Gene Donofrio, Hon. Cheryl L. Waite, JUDGES.
Donofrio, P.J., concurs.
Waite, J., concurs.
APPROVED:
------------------------- JOSEPH J. VUKOVICH, JUDGE
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.