State v. Beaver
Ohio Court of Appeals
119 Ohio App. 3d 385 (1997)
- Written by Sharon Feldman, JD
Facts
Richard Beaver (defendant) was charged with the murder of Fred Butler. At trial, several witnesses testified they were at a party and heard gunshots. Butler ran in and said Beaver had shot him. A witness and a police officer testified that there was a bullet hole in Butler’s chest. A nurse testified Butler was in the intensive-care unit after seven hours of emergency surgery and needed help breathing. According to the coroner, Butler died 25 days after being shot. The cause of death was shock, respiratory failure, organ failure, and sepsis. The coroner could not state at trial that Butler’s death was a homicide because he had not yet issued an official verdict. The court granted Beaver’s request for an instruction on the lesser included offense of felonious assault. The jury acquitted Beaver of murder but could not reach a unanimous verdict on felonious assault. On retrial, Beaver was convicted of felonious assault with a firearm. Beaver appealed, arguing in part that the court should have granted his motion for judgment of acquittal in the first trial because there was insufficient evidence that the gunshots proximately caused Butler’s death.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Nader, J.)
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