Just after 5:30 a.m. on March 11, 2018, Daniel Blackburn was driving home after a night of partying when his car struck a pothole and blew out a tire near the intersection of 139 th Street and Kinsman Road in Cleveland, Ohio. Blackburn pulled into a gas station on Kinsman Road.
Blackburn later told police that he paid “an old dude” $10 to change his tire for him. While he was waiting, he was on his cell phone. Suddenly, Blackburn said, he was confronted by a man who pointed a handgun at him.
Believing he was being robbed, Blackburn smacked the gun downward. The gun then went off. The bullet struck Blackburn’s pants, but did not hit his body. The gunman promptly got into a car and fled. Blackburn ran into the station and called police. He was unable to provide police with any description of the gunman.
The gas station had a surveillance camera, and the video was turned over to police. A detective printed out still images showing the gunman. Subsequently, two police officers reported that they recognized the gunman as 18-year-old Dwayne McCully, based on photographs that McCully had posted on social media.
On May 18, 2018, McCully was indicted by a Cuyahoga County grand jury on charges of aggravated robbery and felonious assault. Both charges carried firearm enhancements.
McCully went to trial in September 2018 in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas.
The prosecution’s case consisted of Blackburn’s testimony about the crime and testimony from police officers about the identification of McCully.
The surveillance video was shown to the jury. The video showed two vehicles, each containing two men, pulled into the station at 5:32 a.m. A man wearing a red sweatshirt got out of the driver’s seat of the first vehicle. A man got out of the passenger’s seat of the second vehicle. Less than one minute later, Blackburn’s vehicle pulled into the gas station with a flat tire.
While Blackburn’s tire was being replaced, the four men men were seen talking with each other and appearing to look at Blackburn.
At 5:34:51 a.m., the man wearing a red sweatshirt and his passenger went inside the gas station. The other two men stayed outside and stood together near the gas pump.
At 5:35:23 a.m., the passenger was seen standing just inside the front door of the gas station with the man wearing a red sweatshirt. The video established that the passenger did not attempt to purchase anything while inside the gas station. Rather, the video appeared to show that he stood by the door during the entire incident and watched the two other individuals confront the victim.
At 5:36:14 a.m., the two individuals who remained outside approached Blackburn and brandished handguns. When one of the men got near Blackburn, Blackburn could be seen pushing the man’s arm away, and the gun discharged. As Blackburn ran into the gas station, the man wearing the red sweatshirt and the passenger walked outside and exchanged words with the two men who had confronted Blackburn.
At 5:36:43, the man in the red sweatshirt and his passenger, as well as one of the men who brandished a gun, got into the first vehicle. The man who fired the shot got into the second vehicle by himself. Within seconds, both vehicles were gone.
Cleveland police detective Ray Bentley viewed the video, but was unable to identify any of the four men. He testified that he had generated still images of each of the four men and posted them on a bulletin board in the detective bureau. Detective Bentley testified that based on his experience, the passenger who stood in the doorway of the gas station was acting as a lookout.
Detective Shane Bauhof testified that after seeing the images on the bulletin board, he recognized McCully from social media posts he reviewed. Patrol officer Brandon Melbar testified that he identified McCully from Facebook photographs he reviewed in the course of unrelated police investigations.
Before the trial judge read the instructions on the law to the jury, McCully’s defense attorney asked whether the jury would be given printed instructions on the burden of proof and reasonable doubt. The judge said the jury would only get printed instructions on the law relating to the charges in the case.
McCully’s defense attorney objected, saying, “It seems a little unfair that the jury would get the language of the various offenses in writing and not get the actual charge dealing with burden of proof and the standard beyond a reasonable doubt. They’d be getting just part of the jury instruction in writing to the exclusion of very important constitutional rights.”
The judge replied, “Some judges don’t send back written instructions at all. It’s not mandatory that you do it. If a question should arise as to a definition, or if the jury indicates that they are confused about something or need something clarified, then I’ll reduce it to writing.”
“Just for the record, in all due respect,” McCully’s attorney said, “I believe if they only get part of the instructions in writing, and they don’t get all the necessary constitutional guarantees, it would be unfair to the defendant.”
On October 1, 2018, the jury convicted McCully of aggravated robbery and felonious assault. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
In February 2020, the Eighth Appellate District of Ohio reversed McCully’s convictions and remanded the case for a new trial. The court held that the trial judge had erred by failing to send all the instructions to the jury. The requirement is mandatory, not discretionary, the court ruled.
The prosecution sought permission to appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court, but the petition was denied.
McCully was released from prison on November 6, 2020. While the case was awaiting a retrial, the police submitted the video and images to a facial recognition search and concluded the man in the video was not McCully, according to Marcus Sidoti, one of McCully’s attorneys. On April 25, 2022, the prosecution filed a motion to dismiss the case. Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold granted the motion. The court order stated: “Case is dismissed…newly discovered evidence.”
In 2024, McCully filed a lawsuit seeking to be declared a “wrongfully imprisoned individual” so that he could seek compensation from the state of Ohio.
On May 22, 2025, the Court of Common Pleas declared him a wrongfully imprisoned individual. On August 22, 2025, the state of Ohio agreed to award McCully $222,500 in compensation.
– Maurice Possley
Posting Date: 01-13-2026
