State v. Bridgeman
| Decision Date | 27 September 1978 |
| Docket Number | No. 77-975,77-975 |
| Citation | 9 O.O.3d 401,55 Ohio St.2d 261,381 N.E.2d 184 |
| Parties | , 9 O.O.3d 401 The STATE of Ohio, Appellee, v. BRIDGEMAN, Appellant. |
| Court | Ohio Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court
Pursuant to Crim.R. 29(A), a court shall not order an entry of judgment of acquittal if the evidence is such that reasonable minds can reach different conclusions as to whether each material element of a crime has been proved beyond a reasonable doubt.
At approximately 3:30 p. m. on May 19, 1975, Harry J. Franks, a money order collector for the U.S.N. Company entered the Fairmont Cut Rate Store at Fairhill and Petrarca Roads in Cleveland, to collect funds for the money orders sold in the store. When Franks left roughly 30 minutes later, closing the door behind him, a customer, a store employee and Mrs. Anna Robinson, the proprietor's wife, were in the store and two individuals armed with guns and subsequently identified as Ricky Jackson and the appellant, Ronnie P. Bridgeman, were standing outside the door near the entrance. Franks carried a briefcase containing $429.12 and 460 money orders with a total face value of $138,000.
As Franks left the store, Ronnie Bridgeman threw acid on his face, hit him with a club and tried to pull the briefcase from his hand. When Bridgeman failed to get the briefcase, Jackson shot Franks twice. He then shot Mrs. Robinson (who was by then looking out the window of the door and had seen someone bending over the victim's body) once in the neck. Bridgeman and Jackson then fled carrying the briefcase.
Franks died of the gunshot wounds he suffered; Mrs. Robinson survived.
On July 16, 1975, appellant was indicted on one count of aggravated robbery, one count of attempted aggravated murder and one count of aggravated murder, with the specifications (1) that the aggravated murder occurred while the appellant was committing or attempting to commit aggravated robbery and (2) that the appellant purposely killed Harry Franks and purposely attempted to kill Anna Robinson. On September 27, 1975, a jury found appellant guilty of aggravated murder committed while committing or attempting to commit aggravated robbery and of aggravated robbery and attempted aggravated murder. Following a mitigation hearing, appellant was sentenced to death on the aggravated murder charge and to four to twenty-five years each on the second and third counts of the indictment.
The Court of Appeals affirmed the convictions and sentences of the trial court. The cause is now before this court on an appeal as of right.
John T. Corrigan, Pros. Atty., and James J. Sweeney, Cleveland, for appellee.
Thomas M. Shaughnessy, Cleveland, for appellant.
Appellant raises four propositions of law in the instant cause. Of those propositions, one challenges the trial court's failure to grant appellant's motions for acquittal and three challenge the scope of inquiry allowed by the mitigating factors listed in R.C. 2929.04 and the procedure by which mitigation is considered under R.C. 2929.03 and 2929.04.
In his first proposition of law appellant contends that the trial court erred in denying appellant's Crim.R. 29(A) motions for acquittal. It has long been established law in Ohio that a question is one for determination by the jury when "reasonable minds can reach different conclusions as to whether each material element of a crime has been proved beyond a reasonable doubt * * * ." State v. Swiger (1966), 5 Ohio St.2d 151, 214 N.E.2d 417, paragraph two of the syllabus; State v. Antill (1964), 176 Ohio St. 61, 197 N.E.2d 548, paragraph five of the syllabus. We do not agree with appellant that the adoption of Crim.R. 29(A) changes that standard.
Crim.R. 29 provides, in pertinent part:
"(A) The court on motion of a defendant or on its own motion, after the evidence on either side is closed, shall order the entry of a judgment of acquittal of one or more offenses charged in the indictment, information, or complaint, if the evidence is insufficient to sustain a conviction of such offense or offenses."
The federal counterpart of Crim.R. 29(A) is Fed.R.Crim.P. 29. An issue will be presented to the jury, under the federal rule, if the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the government, is such that "a reasonable mind Might fairly find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt," and an issue will not be presented to the jury only if the evidence is such that "there Must be some doubt (as to guilt) in a reasonable mind * * * ." (Emphasis added.) See United States v. Collon (C.A. 6 1970), 426 F.2d 939, 942, and the cases cited therein. The standard for sending a question to the jury under Fed.R.Crim.P. 29 and under Swiger and Antill are the same. (If reasonable minds can reach Different conclusions as to whether each element of a crime has been proved beyond a reasonable doubt, they clearly Might find guilt.) Crim.R. 29(A) and Fed.R.Crim.P. 29 are virtually identical. 1 Therefore, the adoption of Crim.R. 29(A) does not alter the Swiger standard for sending an issue to the jury.
Moreover, the evidence against appellant was not so slight or...
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Dickerson v. Mitchell, No. 1:00 CV 2356.
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...of the state's case." The standard of review with regard to the sufficiency of evidence is set forth in State v. Bridgeman (1978), 55 Ohio St.2d 261, 9 O.O.3d 401, 381 N.E.2d 184, syllabus: "Pursuant to Crim.R. 29(A), a court shall not order an entry of judgment of acquittal if the evidence......
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