CLEVELAND, Ohio — A Cleveland man serving a life sentence for the 2024 shooting death of 10-year-old Gracie Griffin is asking an appellate court to overturn his conviction, arguing that a Cuyahoga County judge denied him a fair chance to prove he acted in self-defense.
In a brief filed Dec. 17 with the 8th Ohio District Court of Appeals, Juwone Deaver, 29, claims the jury was misled by flawed instructions and that prosecutors improperly used his silence before his arrest as evidence of guilt.
The filing by his attorney, Susan Moran, also argues that Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Carl Mazzone restricted Deaver’s ability to cross-examine witnesses on critical evidence — a surveillance video capturing disputed sounds of fireworks or gunfire or both — and failed to justify consecutive sentences…