Court Opinion

ID: 9801162
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 08:46:17.441721+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:51:25.508480
License: Public Domain

Pfeifer, J.,
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
*125Stephen Schumaker, Clark County Prosecuting Attorney, and Andrew P. Pickering, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for appellee.
Spiros P. Cocoves; Gamso, Helmick & Hoolahan and Jeffrey M. Gamso, for appellant.
{¶ 130} I concur in the sentence of death with respect to the murders of Phree Morrow and Martha Leach. I dissent from the conclusion that the murder of Belinda Anderson was part of the same course of conduct. The murder of Anderson occurred over a year after and was not related in any way to the murders of Morrow and Leach. See State v. Scott, 101 Ohio St.3d 31, 2004-Ohio-10, 800 N.E.2d 1133, ¶ 113 (Pfeifer, J., dissenting). In this case, as in Scott, “there was ample evidence to support [an]other death-penalty specification[ ], rendering the eourse-of-conduct specification unnecessary.” Id. at ¶ 116. I concur in part and dissent in part.