Eleventh District Criminal Appeals Update

Two out of Three are pro se this week.  Zero out of three win.

State v. Redd, 2015-Ohio-3090, Trumbull County
Redd, through an attorney, initially appealed his case in April of 2013.  The appeal was dismissed after he never filed a brief.  In 2014 he asked the Court to reinstate the appeal.  They denied his request.  Now, in 2015, he files pro se asking for leave to file a delayed appeal.  He doesn’t give any good reasons – or apparently any reasons at all, so it’s denied.  Cannon, Rice, Wright.

State ex rel Gibson v. Sloan, 2015-Ohio-3088, Ashtabula County
Gibson petitions the court pro se for a Writ of Habeas Corpus.  He’s already raised all the same issues in previous appeals and petitions for post-conviction relief, so they’re all res judicata.  Per Curiam.

State v. Yates, 2015-Ohio-3087, Ashtabula County
Yates sent a letter to his judge saying that his mental state was weak, he had a hard time determining what was real and what was fake, and he felt dumb.  Later, he tried to plead guilty to Murder.  The judge asked him how he felt that day, and Yates said he felt the same as when he wrote the letter. The concurring opinion also notes that he didn’t really admit to the charge.  The judge wouldn’t take the plea so the case went to trial. The jury found him not guilty of Aggravated Murder, but he still  got 15 years to life for Murder, plus consecutive 3 years for a gun specification and 3 years for Tampering with Evidence. On appeal, he argues that he court should have let him plead.  The court doesn’t have to, and denying it in this case was not an abuse of discretion.  He also argues that the court should have instructed the jury on Voluntary Manslaughter. But Voluntary Manslaughter isn’t a lesser included offense of Murder, and the facts that came out at trial don’t fit it anyways.  O’Toole, Rice.  Cannon concurs with concurring opinion.