Youngstown Daily Legal News

Woman in band of thieves loses appeal

JESSICA SHAMBAUGH
Special to the Legal News
Published: September 10, 2015

A three-judge appellate panel recently affirmed a Franklin County Court of Common Pleas ruling finding a woman guilty of two counts of robbery.

The 10th District Court of Appeals overruled Atiya Jackson’s arguments on appeal and held that her convictions were properly supported by the manifest weight of the evidence, despite conflicting testimony from the state’s witnesses.

“This court has consistently held that the weight to be given to inconsistencies in any witness’ testimony is a determination within the province of the trier of fact. Here, it was reasonable for the trial court, in weighing the inconsistencies in the evidence, to choose to credit the state’s case,” Judge Julia Dorrian wrote in her opinion for the district court.

Jackson was first charged with two counts of robbery after police saw her with two individuals who attacked and robbed a man. She pleaded not guilty and the matter was tried before the bench.

During trial, Officer Glenn Allison of the Columbus police force testified that he was working as a plain clothes officer with his partner, Officer Melvin Romans, when he received information about suspicious behavior near The Ohio State University’s campus.

The pair then went to the area and saw three individuals wandering around. They noted that one of the people was wearing red and white plaid clothing, one had a white shirt and the third had a blue shirt with a hood.

The officers watched as the group ran toward a person with a bag. The person was able to evade the group by entering a building and the group ran past and then continued walking.

Romans said that was when he saw one of the three people point at him and say something before all three started running toward him.

He stated that he believed they were going to rob him so he evaded them by moving between two houses.

Allison testified he lost sight of the group as they ran toward Romans.

However, he did see a man, later identified as Kevin Pelley, walk nearby carrying a bag. He then noticed the three individuals walking toward Pelley and stated into his radio, “They’re about to rob this guy, get ready.”

Allison said that when the group reached Pelley, two of them tacked him and assaulted him while the third person in the blue with the hood stood nearby.

Allison the approached with his gun and his badge and yelled, “Police, get on the ground.”

The individuals did not comply and instead ran in different directions.

Nevertheless, Allison was able to apprehend a male in the white shirt while another officer stopped a male in the red and white plaid clothing.

They later located Jackson in the blue shirt with the hood near one of the suspects’ car.

Pelley was able to identify all three of the individuals as his attackers but he gave a slightly different version of events.

Specifically, he stated that he walked past one of the individuals before the other two rushed and attacked him.

He said he swung his grocery bag at them in an attempt to fight them off but they tackled him to the ground.

While he was down, Pelley said the two men stuck him while Jackson went through his bag.

He said the group took his money and his phone and he received a serious bruise from being kicked in the neck.

The trial judge found Jackson guilty of both counts of robbery and sentenced her to two years of community control. The judge further stated that if she violated the terms of her community control she would go to prison for six years.

In her timely appeal to the 10th District, Jackson asserted that her conviction was against the manifest weight of the evidence because portions of Pelley’s testimony conflicted with statements from Allison.

Specifically, she noted that Pelley said he walked past one of his attackers before the other two jumped him, while Allison said that all three individuals approached before two rushed Pelley.

Secondly, she pointed out that Allison said Jackson stood off to the side but Pelley claimed she rummaged through his bag.

The appellate panel disagreed that the minor discrepancies were grounds for reversal.

“The testimonies of witnesses are not inconsistent merely because one witness observes additional details when both observed the same event from different perspectives,” Dorrian stated.

The judges noted that Allison was running toward the suspects from a distance, was pulling out his badge and his weapon, and was admittedly more focused on the men attacking Pelley.

For those reasons, they held that he reasonably could have missed Jackson going through Pelley’s bag.

“Similarly, with regard to the differences in the accounts between the movements of the group in the two accounts, there was a period of time where Officer Allison lost sight of the group of suspects before he observed Pelley being followed by the group. Therefore it is reasonable to conclude that Pelley observed something that Officer Allison did not,” Dorrian continued.

After overruling Jackson’s argument, the appellate judges affirmed the lower court’s judgment of conviction.

Judges Jennifer Brunner and Betsy Luper Schuster concurred.

The case is cited State v. Jackson, 2015-Ohio-3322.

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