Ohio Supreme Court declines to hear murderer’s appeal

The Ohio Supreme Court has declined to hear the appeal of a 27-year-old Lorain man serving 33 years to life for the murder of Jason Smith in 2011.

Donzelle Crosby was convicted by a Lorain County jury on Nov. 20, 2014, on one count of aggravated murder, two counts of murder, two counts of aggravated robbery, one count of aggravated burglary, two counts of felonious assault and one count of tampering with evidence for the 24-year-old Lorain man’s death.

According to a Lorain police report on the incident, Smith was shot while being robbed by Crosby and three other Lorain men.

Before Crosby’s trial began, hearings were held on his competency to stand trial. Bob Stinson, a psychologist at Twin Valley Behavioral Healthcare in Columbus at the time, testified Crosby told him he had no father, suffered some sexual abuse as a child and dropped out of school after the 10th grade. He also acknowledged to Stinson that he used alcohol and drugs including marijuana, narcotic pain pills and Ecstasy.

Crosby told Stinson that he did not trust anyone, including his defense attorneys. Crosby’s school records showed some cognitive limitations in his education, but the behavioral staff recorded no signs of mental health issues that would impair his life, Stinson testified.

In Crosby’s initial appeal seeking post-conviction Donzelle Crosby was found guilty on all counts by a jury of his peers Nov. 20, 2014. Crosby was convicted of the March 2011 robbery and murder of Lorain resident Jason Smith. relief to the Ninth District Court of Appeals, which was denied in December 2015, he claimed he was found guilty based on insufficient evidence.

In a follow-up appeal, denied Oct. 30, 2017, he alleged his initial attorney in the matter committed ineffective assistance of counsel by terminating his representation of Crosby to defend one of Crosby’s codefendants, that his attorney at trial was ineffective due to not raising the issue of a possible conflict of interest with a witness, that the prosecution denied Crosby’s due process rights or committed prosecutor misconduct by allowing the aforementioned witness to testify, and that the trial court denied him the right to effective counsel by not holding a conflict of interest hearing. The court ruled in favor of the Lorain County Common Pleas Court because Crosby’s filing was one day past what is statutorily acceptable.

In his handwritten filing to the Ohio Supreme Court, Crosby raised the same issues, but the higher court chose not to hear the issue.

As is customary when the Ohio Supreme Court declines to hear a case, there was no explanation of their decision.

Crosby is being held at the Toledo Correctional Institution.

MORNING JOURNAL FILE