07-28-2012, 01:20 PM
(07-28-2012, 11:19 AM)Adub Wrote: If you look at the rules of criminal procedure
http://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/LegalRe...cedure.pdf
Judge bates could not have simply dismissed the charges at that stage of the trial. A dismissal of charges would have come after a preliminary hearing, which was waived because of the indictment. I do hope that the State files an appeal.
I was bothered by the way Judge Bates appeared to be doing paper work during the opening statements and hardly paying attention at all. Not that that matters.
Interesting from the Blade article the jurors found the murders to be purposeful, but without prior calculation or design. Smart jurors, imo.
Adub: The lack of a guilty verdict on the second Specification you mention indicates that, in addition to the other evidence of guilt, the jury either also believed that there wasn't enough evidence to prove that murder was the original intent, or that they believed Eric Yingling's account of his conversation with Williams in which he said they didn't go there to kill them; only to rob the "safe". In the end it doesn't matter because the first Specification (that the murder caused 2 or more deaths) automatically sealed Williams' fate to face death as soon as the verdicts on the Aggravated Murder charges were Guilty and Guilty.