State v. Bates
| Decision Date | 27 February 2020 |
| Docket Number | No. 2016-1783,2016-1783 |
| Citation | 149 N.E.3d 475,2020 Ohio 634,159 Ohio St.3d 156 |
| Parties | The STATE of Ohio, Appellee, v. BATES, Appellant. |
| Court | Ohio Supreme Court |
Joseph T. Deters, Hamilton County Prosecuting Attorney, and Ronald W. Springman Jr., Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for appellee.
Todd W. Barstow, Columbus, and Roger W. Kirk, Cincinnati, for appellant.
Squire Patton Boggs, L.L.P., and Richard S. Gurbst, Cleveland, urging reversal for amicus curiae, NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc.
Donnelly, J. {¶ 1} Appellant, Glen E. Bates, appeals as of right from his aggravated-murder and other felony convictions and the death sentence imposed by the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas. He has presented 17 propositions of law for our consideration, but the dispositive issue is whether he was deprived of his constitutional right to the effective assistance of counsel when defense counsel, during voir dire, failed to question or strike a racially biased juror.
{¶ 2} We hold that defense counsel's performance during voir dire was objectively unreasonable and that counsel's deficient performance prejudiced Bates by allowing the empanelment of a biased juror in violation of Bates's Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel. We therefore reverse Bates's convictions and sentence and remand this case to the trial court for a new trial.
I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND
{¶ 3} Glenara Bates was born to Andrea Bradley and Glen Bates in January 2013 and immediately placed in foster care in the same home where her four older half siblings were already staying. In September 2013, a court ordered that the five children be returned to Bradley. According to Glenara's foster mother, Glenara weighed almost 20 pounds at that time.
{¶ 4} In December 2014, Bradley took Glenara to Cincinnati Children's Hospital ("CCH"), where Glenara was admitted for poor weight gain, possible malnutrition, and failure to meet developmental milestones. At that time, Glenara was about 23 months old and weighed 17 pounds, 7 ounces.
{¶ 5} Dr. Brian Herbst, a CCH physician, testified that when she was admitted, Glenara could "stand supported but was unable to walk." After ruling out other conditions, Dr. Herbst diagnosed Glenara with malnourishment caused by "not taking in enough calories." He found no other signs of physical abuse. Glenara gained weight as she was fed at the hospital, and Bradley was counseled about the importance of proper nutrition. Glenara was released into Bradley's care approximately ten days after she had been admitted to CCH.
{¶ 6} On March 29, 2015, Bradley arrived at the CCH emergency department holding Glenara, who was unresponsive. The physician who examined her, Dr. Richard Strait, testified that Glenara "had no signs of life," was cold and pale, had "multiple old scars," had "breakdown of the skin in multiple areas," "was totally emaciated," and "looked very small for what was her stated age." Despite many efforts to revive her, Glenara was pronounced dead at 1:01 p.m. At the time of her death, Glenara weighed less than 14 pounds.
{¶ 7} Dr. Strait observed that Glenara had a scar on her forehead; broken and missing teeth and associated trauma to her gums; bruises from head
to toe; loop-shaped scarring on her legs; ulcerated lesions on her fingers, buttocks, and back; and bite marks on her body. Based on Glenara's condition, Dr. Strait suspected severe abuse.
{¶ 8} Glenara's half sister, ten-year-old J.F., testified at trial. She explained that after the children were reunited with Bradley, life "was pretty good" for Glenara for a few months until Bradley and Bates "did a few things" to Glenara because they did not like her. She explained that they made Glenara sleep on the bathroom floor and did not feed her well and that Bradley sometimes beat Glenara with a belt. She also said that she saw Bates bite Glenara and that Bates seemed angry whenever he did that.
{¶ 9} J.F. testified that on March 28, 2015, the day before Glenara died, she saw Bates "bang [Glenara's] head against the wall" in the downstairs hallway of the house where they were living at the time. She said that something had happened to make Bates angry and that he held Glenara by the legs and "swung her" against the wall. According to J.F., Glenara cried at first and then suddenly became silent.
{¶ 10} Hamilton County Deputy Coroner Dr. Jennifer Schott, who performed Glenara's autopsy, determined to a reasonable degree of medical certainty that Glenara's death was caused by "Battered Child Syndrome with acute and chronic intracranial hemorrhages
and starvation." She detailed Glenara's extensive injuries for the jury through testimony and photographic evidence. She identified a number of conditions that had been caused by a combination of "chronic stress" from malnutrition that reduced Glenara's chances of fighting off infections, poor hygiene, and general starvation.
{¶ 11} Dr. Schott testified extensively about subdural and subarachnoid hemorrhages
caused by blunt-force trauma, which were fatal injuries to Glenara's head. She explained that injuries of this type are usually the result of "nonaccidental trauma" and are "markers of the underlying injury of the brain itself," which leads to death. Dr. Schott opined that the subdural and subarachnoid hemorrhages were more consistent with Glenara being held by her legs and swung against a wall or doorframe, as opposed to being dropped and landing on her head. She explained that it is rare for a short linear fall to result in a subdural hemorrhage. Instead, the type of injuries Glenara had are usually caused by "rotational acceleration" that occurs when a child is shaken or swung against an object.
{¶ 12} The autopsy also revealed a combination of lacerations, abrasions, and contusions to Glenara's head, and Dr. Schott identified for the jury visible contusions at various stages of healing "all the way around the head," including "areas that are not typically contused in two-year-olds." According to Dr. Schott, the bruising and abrasions indicated that Glenara had received many blows to the head, though she could not state with certainty how many. She told the jury that "the sheer number of injuries in multiple different planes around the head is very suspicious for child abuse." Dr. Schott also identified "numerous, countless, [and] overlapping" scars all over Glenara's body as well as scar patterns consistent with bite marks and blunt-force trauma caused by impacts from a "very, very thin" item, such as a belt. The autopsy indicated that Glenara had previously suffered a fractured rib bone that was starting to heal; Dr. Schott stated that the location of the fractured bone made it "highly suspicious for child abuse."
{¶ 13} Shortly after Glenara was pronounced dead, CCH notified Cincinnati police that there was evidence that Glenara had been abused. Detective Bill Hilbert viewed Glenara's body at the hospital that day and testified that because of her emaciated condition, his "first impression was [that he] was looking at a six-month-old baby." Police brought Bradley and Bates to the police station to be questioned separately and interviewed Bradley regarding Glenara's injuries.
{¶ 14} That evening, Detective Hilbert and Detective Eric Karaguleff conducted the first of three interviews with Bates after he voluntarily waived his Miranda rights. See Miranda v. Arizona , 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). Bates acknowledged that he had been staying with Bradley and the children for the previous week or two, including on March 28. He said that on March 29, he woke up around noon and that while he was still in bed, Bradley told him that Glenara would not wake up. He then told Bradley to take Glenara to the hospital.
{¶ 15} When asked about Glenara's specific injuries, Bates quickly admitted to noticing bruises on her legs and said that he had seen Bradley "whoop" Glenara with a belt before but never with the buckle end. He denied having been home when Glenara was cut on her forehead
, and he denied noticing the bruise covering the left side of her head. He told the detectives that Glenara had burned her thumb when she grabbed some hot ravioli and that the swelling and cuts on her feet happened when she smashed her feet into a door "or something." At one point, Bates said that he "ain't laid no fingers on her" and that Bradley caused all the injuries.
{¶ 16} Bates initially denied causing (or even noticing) bite marks on Glenara's torso and limbs, but after one of the detectives told him that dental impressions would indicate who bit her, he admitted that he had bitten Glenara two or three times. Bates said that he sometimes would play "doggy gonna get you," which he said involved grabbing Glenara with his teeth "like a dog" and then shaking her. He told the officers that he probably bit her too hard but that he was just playing and never intentionally meant to bite her hard enough to leave a mark.
{¶ 17} Bates eventually acknowledged the significant bruising on the left side of Glenara's head, but he still denied causing the injury or seeing Bradley do anything that would have caused it.
{¶ 18} Less than one hour after the first interview ended, the detectives conducted a second interview. They asked Bates whether it was possible that Glenara had fallen while he was holding her up by her feet or while she was hanging from a ledge or a doorframe. Bates denied that either scenario had occurred, saying that "[t]he only thing I can think is * * * when she was sitting in the chair, like when I set her in the chair she fell." And he said that Glenara was "[j]ust normal" after she had fallen off the chair and hit her head. Later during the second interview, Bates changed course and admitted to holding Glenara "up by her feet and swing[ing] her and stuff," but he continued to deny that she had been hurt when he did that. He also continued to deny having any knowledge of how Glenara had...
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