Trending
WARREN -- The Ohio Supreme Court ruled that it will not hear an appeal from a Warren man convicted of murder in a 2021 shooting death that occurred at an apartment complex in Warren.
Cedrick Patterson, 42, of North Central Correctional Institution in Marion, was convicted of the murder of Bernard Owens at a high-rise apartment complex in December 2021. Patterson also was convicted of shooting another man in an adjoining high rise in August 2022.
In July, in an opinion written by Ohio 11th District Court of Appeal Judge Eugene A. Lucci, the district court rejected claims made by Patterson's attorney, George Stralka, who accused the trial court of having erred in denying a bid to disallow an interview between Patterson and detectives to be used against him during trial.
Stralka argued that his client's waiver of his Miranda Rights was not valid.
An additional error the defense counsel argued centered on the felonious assault and murder offenses that Patterson was being charged with in separate cases.
The appellate judges, however, ruled the trial court showed no abuse in its discretion in rejecting the defense's motion to separate the charges. A third error cited by defense, also rejected by the judges, involved the ruling against self-defense jury instructions.
No merit was found by the appellate judges within the argument that shows the state did not provide credible evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that Patterson committed the offense.