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State v. Stringham3/7/2003
. Scott H. Stringham appeals from his conviction and sentence in the Miami County Court of Common Pleas on one count of first-degree murder.
. Stringham advances four assignments of error on appeal. First, he contends that the trial court erred in excluding expert testimony about false confessions. Second, he argues that the trial court erred in refusing to suppress incriminating statements he made to police. Third, he asserts that the trial court erred in failing to dismiss the case on the basis of a thirty-year delay between the commission of the crime at issue and his indictment. Fourth, he maintains that the trial court erred in refusing to dismiss the case on the basis of a conflict of interest involving his trial attorney.
. The present appeal stems from the 1970 murder of an individual named Cecil Wayne Martin, in Miami County. On November 16, 1970, police discovered Martin's body in a creek. The body, which appeared to have been dumped from a road above the creek, had three bullet holes in the back and one in the cheek. A criminal investigation into Martin's death remained active for approximately one year. During that time, police failed to develop any leads, and Stringham was not mentioned as a suspect. The only forensic evidence discovered during the investigation was an unidentified fingerprint found on the inside passenger-side door of Martin's car. After failing to match the fingerprint to anyone, police closed the investigation.
. Approximately thirty years later, Miami County police officer Steve Lord re-opened the murder investigation. In the course of his work, he had the unidentified fingerprint run through a computer database known as the Automated Fingerprint Identification System. The search matched the print to Stringham, who then was residing in Oklahoma City. Thereafter, Lord and detective Mark Humphrey traveled to Stringham's home in Oklahoma City, accompanied by a member of the Oklahoma City police department. Upon making contact with Stringham, the Oklahoma City officer asked him to come to the police station to talk. Stringham agreed, and a friend drove him to the Oklahoma City police station. Once there, Lord and Humphrey interviewed him about Martin's death. During the interview, Stringham stated that he, an AWOL Marine, and another man whose father had been on the New Carlisle City Council, had met Martin and were driving him to Yellow Springs to buy drugs. Stringham then told Lord and Humphrey that the occupants of the car had stopped to urinate and that he had seen the AWOL Marine shoot Martin while the car was stopped. Later during the interview, however, Stringham confessed that he actually had shot Martin himself. Following this confession, Stringham flew back to Ohio with the Miami County officers. During the trip, he contradicted his confession and insisted that the unidentified, AWOL Marine had shot Martin. Stringham subsequently was charged with one count of first-degree murder in connection with Martin's death. The matter proceeded to trial, and a jury found him guilty. The trial court sentenced Stringham to life in prison. He then filed a timely appeal, advancing the four assignments of error set forth above.
. As a means of analysis, we turn first to Stringham's third assignment of error, as it raises an issue that would require the reversal of his conviction and preclude a retrial if he is correct. In his third assignment of error, Stringham contends that the thirty-year delay between the crime at issue and his indictment resulted in a violation of his constitutional right to due process of law. This argument implicates United States v. Marion (1971), 404 U.S. 307. Therein, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized th
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