## Facts

- A New Year’s Eve party occurred at Edwards Brothers Hall in Middletown, Ohio, on December 31, 2010 into January 1, 2011.
- Anthony Dion Blake attended with associates identified as members of the “Baltimore Street Gangsters” and was seen carrying a gun.
- Around 1:30 a.m., after exchanging words with Terron “Skinny” Moton, Blake shot Moton; witnesses described Blake standing over Moton and firing additional shots.
- Police secured the scene; Moton was transported to a hospital and pronounced dead.
- An autopsy concluded Moton suffered three gunshot wounds to the head/neck; all were lethal, and death was caused by gunshot wounds.
- Investigators developed information connecting Blake and his associates to the shooting.
- At trial, the State introduced a Cincinnati Bell printout of text messages associated with Blake’s phone number (Exhibit 40), authenticated by the provider’s records custodian as kept in the ordinary course of business.

## Issues

1. Whether the trial court erred by admitting a cellular provider’s text-message printout as a business record to prove the content of out-of-court messages, including challenges based on hearsay and authentication.
2. Whether the prosecution’s Crim.R. 16(F) certificate of nondisclosure and the court’s in camera review procedure violated discovery and due process requirements, and, if so, whether any error was prejudicial.

## Decision

- The court of appeals affirmed Blake’s convictions for murder with a firearm specification and having a weapon while under disability.
- The trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting Exhibit 40 as a properly authenticated business record.
- The Crim.R. 16(F) nondisclosure procedure, including assignment of in camera review to a different judge, did not warrant reversal because Blake failed to show material prejudice.

## Legal Principles

- Under the business-records hearsay exception, a record may be admitted when a qualified witness establishes it was made at or near the time of the events, kept in the course of a regularly conducted business activity, and created as a regular practice of that activity.
- A records custodian need not have personal knowledge of the truth of each recorded statement; the foundation focuses on how the business creates and maintains the record.
- Provider-generated phone/text records can be authenticated through custodian testimony describing ordinary recordkeeping practices; challenges to whether a defendant authored particular messages generally go to weight rather than admissibility when there is evidence linking the number/phone to the defendant.
- A Crim.R. 16(F) certificate of nondisclosure requires judicial review; use of an in camera review procedure consistent with controlling authority does not justify reversal absent a showing that withheld material was both improper to withhold and materially prejudicial.

## Conclusion

The appellate court upheld Blake’s convictions, concluding that Cincinnati Bell’s text-message logs were admissible as business records when supported by custodian testimony about regular recordkeeping, and that the Crim.R. 16(F) nondisclosure process, including in camera review by a different judge, did not deny Blake a fair trial or cause prejudice.


State v. Blake, 974 N.E.2d 730 (Ohio Ct. App. 2012)