Portage County Legal News

Kidnapping conviction affirmed by 11th District

ANNIE YAMSON
Special to the Legal News
Published: April 18, 2014

The judgment of the Portage County Court of Common Pleas was recently affirmed by the 11th District Court of Appeals.

The reviewing court found that Patricia Stephenson was properly convicted of first-degree felony kidnapping along with a firearm specification.

The conviction stemmed from an incident that took place on Oct. 29, 2012 when Stephenson arrived along with her brother, Antonio, at Grace Warren’s apartment to retrieve an audio speaker that was left behind from a party.

According to the state’s version of events, Antonio asked Warren where her boyfriend, Jawn Holmes, was so she called him and had him come over.

When Holmes arrived he walked toward Antonio and asked what was going on.

At that point, Antonio pulled out a gun, pointed it at Holmes’ head and said, “You’re not going to mess with my cousin.”

In response, Holmes indicated that he was going to leave, put his hands up and walked to the door. Stephenson, however, blocked his exit.

A fight ensued and at some point, Stephenson fired a shot that went into the ceiling of Warren’s apartment.

Holmes pretended that he was injured and Stephenson fled with Antonio.

Stephenson presented a different version of events during her trial.

She claimed that Warren and Holmes planned to violently confront Antonio because Holmes was upset that Antonio had slept with Warren on the night of the party.

“Consequently, (Stephenson) maintained that she was an innocent bystander who, through bad luck, became a victim in Holmes’ and Warren’s setup,” case summary stated.

Upon appeal, she claimed that her conviction was against the manifest weight and sufficiency of the evidence.

According to Stephenson, Warren was not a credible witness because she had lied to investigating police officers when she told them that she did not delete any text messages from her phone.

She also attacked Holmes’ credibility because he lied about possessing a gun.

After Stephenson and Antonio fled, Holmes went to his apartment and grabbed a firearm before going after them.

When he was questioned by police, he told them otherwise.

Stephenson also questioned why the police did not perform a gunshot residue test in order to determine who had fired the gun.

“Appellant claims that, because the gun she allegedly used was never found, reasonable doubt exists as to whether she was responsible for the bullet hole in Warren’s ceiling,” wrote Judge Thomas Wright on behalf of the court of appeals.

Instead, Stephenson argued that the jury “should have believed” that Warren and Holmes were seeking revenge on Antonio.

The district’s three-judge appellate panel held that the jury did not lose its way when it found Stephenson guilty.

Wright cited R.C. 2905.01, which defines a kidnapping offense and provides that “no person, by force, threat or deception ... shall remove another from the place where the other person is found or restrain the liberty of the other person for any of the following purposes: to terrorize or to inflict serious physical harm on the victim or another.”

The appellate panel concluded that none of the inconsistencies in the prosecution’s witness testimony addressed the elements of the crime.

Nor did the inconsistencies render the witnesses completely incredible.

“Furthermore, there is evidence from a jailhouse informant, Warren and Holmes, as well as the .22 caliber casing found near the doorway in Warren’s apartment indicating that Stephenson fired a shot from a .22 caliber gun into the ceiling of Warren’s apartment,” wrote Wright.

The panel concluded that Stephenson’s sole assignment of error was without merit and it upheld the judgment of the Portage County court.

Presiding Judge Timothy Cannon and Judge Colleen O’Toole concurred.

The case is cited State v. Stephenson, 2014-Ohio-1365.

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