J.S. writing from Ohio
“ The video camera evidence and knife in the photograph[ic] evidence all disappeared and/or [were] purposely not collected. Something happened to all of the evidence in my favor. It was either altered, destroyed[,] not collected and/or purposely lost.”
Location
Franklin County, Ohio
Crime of Conviction
Murder; Tampering with evidence
Year of Conviction
2017
Legal claims
J.S. raised a defense of self-defense in relation to the killing of his father. He claims that there was error in the application of the law of self-defense in his case.
J.S. also claims that the police altered a 20-gauge shotgun that was loaded and in his father’s possession, and that this rendered any test results on it false and tainted. He states that the gun was found inoperable because the firing pin was removed. He further claims that the prosecution never disclosed that the gun was taken apart by police prior to scientific examinations being performed on it.
Procedural issues
J.S.'s conviction was affirmed on direct appeal. A judge on the intermediate appeals court dissented from the affirmance of his conviction on direct appeal, and two judges of the state supreme court dissented from that court’s denial of appellate jurisdiction.
J.S. was denied federal habeas relief.
Counsel
No counsel currently reported.