State v. Myers
| Decision Date | 08 February 1978 |
| Docket Number | No. 77-133,77-133 |
| Citation | 53 Ohio St.2d 74,372 N.E.2d 356 |
| Parties | , 7 O.O.3d 150 The STATE of Ohio, Appellee, v. MYERS, Appellant. |
| Court | Ohio Supreme Court |
On February 26, 1975, Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Lorenz were robbed in their fur shop located in Stone Creek, Tuscarawas County, Ohio, by two men carrying shotguns. Sheriff's deputies who investigated the robbery found only footprints from the fur shop to a point along the road where the footprints met apparent automobile tire tracks.
Nearly a year later, deputies obtained a statement from one Michael D. Willoughby, who confessed participation in the robbery and implicated the appellant, John J. Myers. The appellant was indicted by the January 1976 term of the Tuscarawas County grand jury, on one count of aggravated robbery, a violation of R.C. 2911.01. The case was tried, on April 21 and 22, 1976, to a jury which returned a verdict of guilty as charged. Judgment was entered upon the verdict by the Court of Common Pleas.
Upon appeal to the Court of Appeals, appellant's conviction and sentence of not less than four nor more than twenty-five years were upheld.
The cause is now before this court pursuant to the allowance of the appellant's motion for leave to appeal.
David J. Rohrer, New Philadelphia, for appellee.
Johnson & Johnson Co., L.P.A., and Michael C. Johnson, New Philadelphia, for appellant.
Appellant bases his appeal on his belief that a conviction of complicity in which the identity of an offender is established by the testimony of an accomplice is invalid pursuant to R.C. 2923.03(D), effective January 1, 1974, unless said testimony is supported by other probative evidence. There was evidence by witnesses other than Willoughby to support a jury finding that the crime charged was committed, but there was no evidence other than the testimony of Willoughby identifying the appellant as one of the three persons involved.
R.C. 2923.03(D) relates to "complicity" and provides:
"No person shall be convicted of complicity under this section solely upon the testimony of an accomplice, unsupported by other evidence."
This statute was enacted after the decision in State v. Flonnory (1972), 31 Ohio St.2d 124, 285 N.E.2d 726, in which paragraph three of the syllabus reads:
"A conviction may be based upon the uncorroborated testimony of an accomplice, except where otherwise specifically provided by statute."
The exception provided for by the statute changes the general rule recognized by this court in State v. Flonnory, supra. In this day of plea bargaining and immunized testimony, and under such a statute, it is vitally important that one implicating an accomplice do something more than point a finger. His testimony must be corroborated by some other fact, circumstance, or testimony which also points to the identity of the one he accuses as a guilty actor. * The specific statutory language of R.C. 2923.03(D) is otherwise meaningless.
Appellant's conviction...
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