Most Important Opinions

1. Criminal Practice – Murder – Motion to Continue – DNA Evidence — Constitutional – Ineffective Assistance – Jury Instructions 

   State v. King Where defense counsel failed to timely review discovery provided by the state and so failed to find an expert in time for trial, the trial court did not err or violate defendant’s constitutional rights in denying his motion to continue in order to secure an expert witness for trial.

2. Criminal Practice – Jury Instructions – Plain Error – Guilty Knowledge – Heroin Trafficking 

   State v. Coleman Although defendant did not testify and did not request an additional instruction on guilty knowledge, since the state’s evidence included defendant’s repeated statements to police that he believed the box he was holding for someone else contained only marijuana and cocaine, the trial court plainly erred when it failed to instruct the jury that the state was required to prove that defendant knew what he possessed was heroin.

3. Criminal Practice – ‘Victim’ – Sentencing – Ohio Conviction 

   State v. Phillips Since defendant did not object at trial when the trial court referred to the prosecuting witness as “the victim,” he is only entitled to plain-error review. Considering the fact that our courts have on many occasions said that the use of the term “victim” in jury instructions is not an expression of opinion, and considering the horrifying facts of the assault in the instant case, we can discern no prejudicial error as a result of the trial court’s use of the word “victim” to identify the state’s prosecuting witness during its jury instructions.