Youngstown Daily Legal News

Man who helped son bury a safe in backyard loses appeal

ANNIE YAMSON
Special to the Legal News
Published: August 19, 2014

In a recent ruling, the 2nd District Court of Appeals upheld convictions for a father who helped his son bury a stolen safe.

Steven Welch was convicted in the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas for obstructing justice and tampering with evidence, then sentenced to community control.

Upon appeal, Welch argued that the lower court should have granted his motion for acquittal and his convictions were against the manifest weight of the evidence.

During Welch’s trial, Dayton police officer Jeffrey Vance testified that, in September 2012, he was dispatched to a home on a burglary call.

The homeowner informed Vance that she had returned home around 4 a.m. and noticed that her safe, containing valuables and $18,000 in cash, was missing.

Welch’s son, Christopher, was identified as a possible suspect so Vance went to the nearby Welch residence and spoke with the father, informing him that his son was suspected of burglarizing a nearby house.

Welch indicated that he did not know where his son was but said he would call if he turned up.

Det. Jason Neubauer interviewed Christopher at the police department, where the younger Welch admitted that the safe was stolen and buried in the backyard of his father’s house.

Welch gave his consent to search the property and Christopher dug up the safe for the police.

In an interview with investigators, Welch admitted that he had helped his son bury the safe “in order to protect him.”

He told police that Christopher had come to him and said the safe was in the backyard.

Welch instructed him to wait until nightfall, at which point they got a shovel and began digging.

Despite the police confession, Christopher testified at his father’s trial that he buried the safe alone and that Welch had no knowledge of any stolen property.

The trial court denied Welch’s motion for acquittal and found him guilty.

In his first assignment of error, Welch challenged the trial court’s denial of his motion.

The court of appeals, however, cited the fact that Welch did not renew his motion at the close of evidence.

Had he renewed it, Judge Michael Hall wrote that the lower court would not have granted the motion anyway because of the evidence weighing heavily in favor of conviction.

Welch’s second assignment of error challenged the weight of that evidence.

According to him, there was no evidence corroborating his confession and no recording or signed statement of his confession was presented at trial.

“Welch cites no authority for the proposition that a confession must be corroborated or memorialized,” wrote Judge Hall. “Nor does he cite authority for the necessity of physical evidence in this case.”

Viewing the evidence in a light most favorable to the prosecution, the appellate panel held that a rational trier of fact could have found proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Welch’s purpose in helping to bury the safe was to hinder the apprehension and prosecution of his son.

“When he helped bury the safe, Welch knew that it was stolen and that there would be an investigation,” wrote Judge Hall.

The court of appeals ruled that the Montgomery County court would not have granted a motion for acquittal had Welch renewed it at the close of evidence and noted that Welch’s admissions to police were sufficient to support his convictions and render his convictions consistent with the weight of the evidence.

The trial court’s judgment was affirmed with Judges Mary Donovan and Jeffrey Welbaum concurring.

The case is cited State v. Welch, 2014-Ohio-3349.

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