circumstantial evidence law

• State v. Tate, (Ohio 2011)

CRIMINAL LAW - home invasion; complicity to aggravated robbery; complicity to aggravated burglary; complicity to kidnapping; firearm specification; forfeiture; sufficiency of the evidence; manifest weight of the evidence; circumstantial; aiding and abetting; getaway driver. CRIMINAL LAW - EVIDENCE - out of court statement; not hearsay; not offered for truth of the matter asserted; explain act; Evid.R. 403; no confusion; not misleading; no unfair prejudice; no confrontation clause issue.

• Ohio Supreme Court

• Governor Pardons Executed R.I. Man

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Gov. Lincoln Chafee on Wednesday pardoned the last man executed in Rhode Island, an Irish immigrant who was hanged more than 150 years ago following what is believed to be a trial tainted by widespread bigotry against Irish Catholics. John Gordon was convicted of killing Amasa Sprague, a wealthy mill owner and the brother of a U.S. senator. Gordon was hanged in 1845 at the age of 29. But law professors and historians now say the evidence against him was circumstantial and prejudice against Irish Catholics compromised his trial.

• Charleston Daily Mail
• June 30, 2011

• State v. Bostwick, (Ohio 2011)

CRIMINAL LAW: manifest weight of the evidence, sufficiency of the evidence, circumstantial evidence, possession, manufacture, controlled substance, ineffective assistance of counsel, probable cause, motion to suppress, motor vehicle, search, methamphetamines.

• Ohio Supreme Court

• The misguided reliance in American jurisprudence on Jewish law to support the moral legitimacy of capital punishment.

Jewish law has been misinterpreted by death penalty advocates in modern US society wishing to find moral and historical justification for implementing capital punishment. While the Torah does make reference to imposing the death penalty, Talmudic interpretation reveals that rabbis developed procedural and evidentiary hurdles designed to make death sentences virtually impossible. Two eyewitnesses were required, and no circumstantial evidence was admitted, among other barriers. Appeals to Jewish law actually call into question the wisdom of capital punishment.

• American Criminal Law Review
• Vol. 33 Nbr. 2, January 1996

• State v. Turner, (Ohio 2010)

Carrying a Concealed Weapon; Constitutional Law, right of confrontation, search and seizure; Evidence, circumstantial, hearsay, present sense impression, sufficiency; Motions, to suppress evidence.

• Ohio Supreme Court

• State v. Griffith, (Ohio 2010)

CRIMINAL LAW – burglary; manifest weight; sufficiency of evidence; circumstantial evidence; one man showup identification; lesser included offense.

• Ohio Supreme Court

• State v. Tichaona, (Ohio 2011)

BURGLARY/ROBBERY - use of force can be accomplished by opening a closed but unlocked door or by popping lock of a locked door; use of circumstantial evidence to prove defendant acted knowingly. CRIMINAL LAW - SENTENCING/FINES, RESTITUTION, EXPUNGEMENT - where trial court imposes court costs in its judgment entry but fails to advise defendant it was imposing costs at sentencing hearing, appellate court can modify sentencing entry to vacate court costs and remand for resentencing is not necessary where defendant files affidavit of indigency in court of appeals and state requests that costs be waived.

• Ohio Supreme Court

• 9th Circuit Rules Circumstantial Evidence Can Support Title Vii Claim

Title VII does not require a disparate treatment plaintiff relying on circumstantial evidence to produce more, or better, evidence to survive summary judgment than a plaintiff who relies on direct evidence, the 9th Circuit has ruled. An African-American man sued his former employer, alleging race discrimination under Title VII. Both parties moved for summary judgment. The plaintiff provided circumstantial evidence that his white supervisor had excluded him from meetings and demoted him because of his race. The trial court granted the defendants' motion.

• Lawyers USA
• March 27, 2006

• State v. Worthy, (Ohio 2005)

Criminal Law - burglary; arson; aggravated; circumstantial evidence; confession; legal sufficiency; manifest weight.

• Ohio Supreme Court

• Proof Is Missing in Firings Scandal

WASHINGTON - The escalating uproar over President Bush's firings of eight U.S. attorneys has handed Democrats a weapon they have long sought - evidence his administration improperly allowed politics to trump the law. There are a couple of problems: The evidence is largely circumstantial, and the proof is missing.

• Augusta Chronicle, The
• May 03, 2007