Youngstown Daily Legal News

Man who shot three men, killing one, loses appeal

ANNIE YAMSON
Special to the Legal News
Published: November 23, 2015

A murder conviction out of the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas was recently affirmed when a panel of three judges reviewed the state’s case against Lynntonio Watson.

Watson challenged the sufficiency and manifest weight of the evidence supporting his convictions for murder, felonious assault and having weapons under disability in the 2nd District Court of Appeals.

He also claimed he was prevented from impeaching one of the state’s witnesses on cross examination during his trial.

“We conclude that there is sufficient evidence in the record to sustain the convictions and that the convictions are not against the manifest weight of the evidence,” Judge Mike Fain wrote in the opinion he authored on behalf of the reviewing court. “We further conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion with regard to the admission of impeachment evidence.”

Case summary states that, in early September 2013, Watson confronted three men, Shamarr Bodine, his cousin Martell Gray and his friend Robert Wood, on a street in Dayton.

Watson said that Bodine had accused him of killing Bodine’s brother and then drew a gun, told the trio not to move and began shooting.

At trial, Bodine and Wood testified that they ran in different directions.

Wood was shot once in the shoulder and Bodine was shot twice but both survived.

When police arrived, they found Gray just seconds before he died of multiple gunshot wounds to the head.

Shell casings and cellphone records tied Watson to the shooting as did a statement from Bodine.

Wood initially refused to identify who shot him out of fear of retaliation, but he did testify at trial.

After the charges were tried by a jury Watson was found guilty and sentenced to 37 years to life in prison.

The verdict and sentence were affirmed as a result of the appellate court’s review of the sufficiency and manifest weight of the evidence.

“Watson contends that the state failed to prove that he fired the shots that killed Gray and injured Wood and Bodine,” Fain wrote.

The appellate panel pointed out that, during trial, both Bodine and Wood testified that Watson pulled a gun from his right pocket and told them not to move.

Court documents indicate that, during his police interview following his arrest, Wood insisted that he had spent the day of the shooting in a residence far from the location of the murder.

“However, the state presented the testimony of FBI Special Agent Kevin Horan, who was qualified as an expert in the field of cellular telephone record analysis,” Fain wrote. “Horan testified that he conducted a study of the cellular telephone towers in the area of the shooting and determined that the telephone recovered from Watson’s pocket during his arrest had been in the area of the shooting during the time of the shooting.”

Watson told the police that the cellphone belonged to his wife, a statement that was contradicted by evidence that, after the shooting, the cellphone in question made calls to Watson’s wife, his girlfriend and his mistress.

“Indeed, over 560 calls were made to the mistress’ phone that day,” Fain wrote.

The state also presented evidence that Watson’s mistress lived in apartment K of a building in the same area as the shooting.

During the investigation, the police found that a bullet had penetrated the outer wall of apartment L, which was next door to the mistress’ apartment.

While the forensic team was in apartment L retrieving the bullet, the mistress sent a text message to the phone recovered from Watson saying, “Don’t open the door.”

The state also had evidence that Watson left the area for a few days after the shooting, changed his appearance by dying his hair and threatened Bodine.

According to case summary, Bodine was serving a prison term on an unrelated charge at the time that Watson’s case came to trial. About 90 days before trial, Bodine began receiving threats that he would be hurt if he testified.

Three weeks before the trial, a group of inmates forced him to sign a blank piece of paper and his identification card was stolen. Then, one day after he testified, an affidavit recanting his testimony was presented in the trial court.

Bodine denied signing the document and the trial court found that it was a forgery as the handwriting in the body of the affidavit did not match the signature.

Bodine and Watson came into contact on Aug. 1, 2014 as they were being transported to court.

During the drive, Watson asked Bodine why he took the stand and addressed the other inmates, ordering them to beat Bodine up because he was a “snitch.”

“We conclude that this evidence is sufficient to permit a reasonable jury to find, beyond reasonable doubt, that Watson was the person who shot all three victims,” Fain wrote.

The appellate panel further found that the jury weighed the credibility of the witnesses and that verdict was not against the manifest weight of the evidence.

In his second and final assignment of error, Watson contended that the trial court erred when it stopped him from questioning Bodine about the bad blood between their families.

But the court of appeals concluded that the line of questioning, while relevant, would have led to “unfair prejudice” against Watson and “confusion of the issues.”

In any case, it noted that the tension between the families was addressed when Bodine testified that Watson killed his cousin.

“This statement clearly indicated a potential source of bias on the part of Bodine and the jury was clearly made aware of that bias,” Fain wrote. “Because Watson was able to present this potential bias to the jury, we conclude that the trial court’s previous ruling, even if it had been erroneous, would not have been so prejudicial as to merit reversal.”

With both of Watson’s assignments of error overruled, the court of appeals affirmed the judgment of the trial court.

Presiding Judge Jeffrey Froelich and Judge Michael Hall concurred.

The case is cited State v. Watson, 2015-Ohio-4517.

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