The State of Ohio, Appellee v. McKelton, Appellant

Summary

The Supreme Court of Ohio affirmed Calvin McKelton's convictions for the 2008 murder of Margaret Allen and the 2009 aggravated murder of Germaine Evans, and affirmed his death sentence, rejecting all 21 propositions of law. The court upheld the late disclosure of eight witness names under Crim.R. 16(D), the denials of counsel's withdrawal and of continuances, group voir dire, admission of the murdered victim's statements under the forfeiture-by-wrongdoing doctrine with purpose inferred from a history of domestic violence, impeachment of a recanting state witness, limits on cross-examination of jailed informants, and domestic-violence expert testimony, while treating numerous evidentiary errors (tattoo photos, an Anarchist Cookbook, hearsay-within-hearsay, and detective testimony exceeding the investigative-step exception) as harmless beyond a reasonable doubt or not plain error. Justice O'Neill, concurring in part and dissenting in part and joined by Justice Pfeifer except as noted, would have reversed the death sentence for ineffective assistance in the mitigation investigation, applying the fair-trial-and-substantial-justice standard of State v. Hester.