State v. Wamsley

*389I. Introduction

{¶ 1} Today this court must determine whether a trial court’s failure to instruct the jury on the culpable mental state of a charged offense is a “structural error” requiring automatic reversal or a “trial error” amenable to plain-error analysis when the defendant fails to object at trial. Because we hold that the error was not structural and the court of appeals failed to properly conduct a plain-error analysis, we reverse the judgment of the court of appeals and remand the cause to that court for further proceedings.

II. Facts

{¶ 2} Timothy M. Wamsley, defendant-appellee, and…