State v. Gapen

{¶ 1} In this death-penalty appeal, defendant-appellant, Larry James Gapen, raises 14 propositions of law. We find one proposition to be meritorious and reverse Gapen’s convictions for breaking detention and the R.C. 2929.04(A)(4) specifications that allege murder in the course of breaking detention. We find that none of his other propositions of law has merit and affirm Gapen’s remaining convictions. We have also independently weighed the aggravating circumstances against the mitigating factors and have compared Gapen’s sentence of death to those imposed in similar cases, as R.C. 2929.05(A)…