Opinion ID: 617145
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Sufficiency of the Evidence of Aggravated Murder

Text: Sowell next argues that there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction. He is wrong. Sowell was convicted of aggravated murder, which requires a finding of prior calculation and design. See O.R.C. § 2903.03(A)(1). We adopt the careful reasoning of the district court to the effect that the evidence presented at trial was sufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Sowell acted with prior calculation and design. Most pointedly, the district court explained that: [T]he shootings did not occur as a result of an instantaneous eruption or one continuous course of events. There was an initial encounter and an exchange of hostile words between petitioner and Billups that generated a decision on petitioner's part to shoot and kill Billups. After arguing with Billups about whether she had taken his money, petitioner announced his intention to get his gun and kill Billups, and he put into action a plan to achieve that result. To that end, petitioner left Graham's apartment, went down the hall to his own apartment, and retrieved his gun. Although the period of time that elapsed between the initial encounter and the shootings was brief, there was a break in the encounter, or an intervening period, during which there was a time for reflection and planning. During that time, petitioner retrieved his weapon from a different location and devised a plan to regain entry to Graham's apartment under false pretenses by using Lenora Waugh. Accordingly, . . . there was sufficient time, under all of the circumstances, for petitioner to plan the killing. Sowell, 557 F.Supp.2d at 917.