State v. Ayers
| Docket Number | 2021CA00134 |
| Decision Date | 06 June 2022 |
| Citation | 2022 Ohio 1910 |
| Parties | STATE OF OHIO Plaintiff-Appellee v. KAYLA AYERS Defendant-Appellant |
| Court | Ohio Court of Appeals |
Assistant Prosecutor
For Defendant-Appellant
BRIAN HOWE
Hon. Earle E. Wise, P.J. Hon. W. Scott Gwin, J. Hon. William B. Hoffman, J.
{¶ 1} Appellant Kayla Jean Ayers ["Ayers"] appeals from the November 2, 2021 Judgement Entry of the Stark County Court of Common Pleas overruling her motion for a New Trial and her Petition for Post-Conviction Relief without a hearing.
{¶ 2} Before the fire on the evening of October 3 2012, Ayers and her family (her boyfriend and their three young children) were living with her father and his family (his girlfriend and her two children) in his Massillon residence. 2T. at 307-312[1]. Her father, Jeff Ayers, eventually discussed finances with Ayers and the fact that she was not contributing much toward the household expenses. Their relationship deteriorated due to the financial situation, and Mr. Ayers told his daughter to leave and care for her own family. Ayers responded by telling her father that she was not leaving and that he should leave. Ayers then threatened to burn the house down. Fearful for himself and his pregnant girlfriend, Mr. Ayers decided to leave and force Ayers to care for her family on her own. When he told his daughter of his decision, Ayers threatened to burn the house down if he were to leave. Id. At the time of this threat, a friend of Mr. Ayers, Jason Pandrea (who was having a sexual relationship with Ayers), overheard Ayers's threat. Mr. Ayers decided to leave the Massillon home nonetheless, and left for West Virginia to seek employment and new living arrangements during the morning of October 3, 2012. 2T. at 307-321; 339.
{¶ 3} On October 3, 2012, Ayers's boyfriend, Brennan Scott, left for work as usual, picking up his boss on the way. 2T. at 325-376. After work, he picked up Ayers and then went to get their children from day care around 6:30 p.m. 2T. at 327. Scott then took his boss and his boss's children home to Beach City, where Scott stayed for a couple hours socializing. 2T. at 327-328. Two of Ayers's children, the daughters, who were 5 and 4, boarded a church bus to take them to evening services around that time. 2T. at 327. When Brennan Scott returned around eight o'clock that night, he found fire trucks around his house. 2T. at 328.
{¶ 4} Karen Ball, a regular attendee at this church, arrived at the Ayers residence in order to pick up Ayers and her three children. 2T. at 376-377. Ball knocked on the front door, but no one answered the door. Id. at 378. Instead, she heard the dog barking, and then heard someone say, "Shhh." 2T. at 378-379. Getting no answer, Ball went to the kitchen door. 2T. at 379. Ball was able to see Ayers's purse and a backpack on a chair on the deck. 2T. at 379. Ball talked briefly with a neighbor, which led her to believe that Ayers was inside the home. 2T. at 380-381.
{¶ 5} While at church, Ball decided to leave the service early to check on Ayers. 2T. at 381. Arriving at the home around eight o'clock, Ball noticed a flickering emanating from a basement window. 2T. at 381-382. Ball knocked on the basement door, but got no answer other than the dog barking. Ball called to Ayers repeatedly, but got no answer. 2T. at 383. She went once again to the kitchen door to knock and call to Ayers. Still getting no answer other than the dog's persistent barking, Ball returned to her car to get her cane, after which she intended to go to a neighbors to ask about Ayers. 2T. at 384. When she got to her car, she heard a thump, turned around, and saw Ayers running to her with her youngest child, three-year- old Bubba (Brennan, Jr.). 2T. at 384-385. Ayers told Ball to call 9-1 -1, so the disabled woman went to the neighbors' and had them call 9-1-1. 2T. at 385-386. While waiting for the fire fighters to respond, Ball stayed with Ayers and Bubba. She noticed that Ayers had cut her hand, but that Bubba was fine. 2T. at 386. Ayers also kept bemoaning the fact that she was going to lose her children. 2T. at 389.
{¶ 6} The neighbor, Jennifer Conley, heard Ayers say that Bubba had started the fire. Conley detected a strong odor of burnt marijuana on Ayers. 2T. at 359-360, 362, 367.
{¶ 7} Fire fighters from the Massillon Fire Department responded to the 9-1 -1 call, and put out the fire inside the home. Once the fire was extinguished (primarily in the basement), the smoke inside the home was ventilated out, which then allowed the fire inspector to investigate the nature and origin of the fire. The fire fighters-paramedics also treated Ayers and her lacerated hand, as well as Bubba. The paramedics noted that Bubba did not have any smoke smell or soot about him; Ayers, however, had soot on her, which indicated that she had been in the basement, which was the obvious source of fire. 1T. at 182-187, 189, 193, 213, 215.
{¶ 8} Inspector Reginald Winters of the Massillon Fire Department testified he ruled out an electrical shortage as the cause of the fire. Winters determined a mattress was the point of origination for the fire, and there were two distinct start points at separate ends of the mattress. Winters opined that the cause of the fire was incendiary, i.e., an open flame 1T. at 231. Thus, someone used an open flame to light two fires at different ends of the mattress. Winters did not find any evidence that the fire had been started by a cigarette, i.e., he did not find any remnant of a cigarette. 1T. at 239-240. There also did not appear to be any accelerants used in the fire. 1T. at 248; 2T. at 293-294.
{¶ 9} Because mattresses now have fire retardants on them, Inspector Winters testified that the initial flame would have been small, and that a glass of water would have extinguished the flame. The fire retardants cause any flame to burn slowly, not fast, and that a cigarette will take hours to light a mattress on fire. Fanning the fire would have given it oxygen, causing the flame to get bigger. Winters opined that the mattress at the Ayers residence burned between ten and twelve minutes before the fire department arrived. 2T. at 266-268.
{¶ 10} Winters testified that Bubba, if he had started the two fires, would have had to light the fire at one end of the mattress, and then crawl to the other end while the mattress was on fire to the other end and light that spot as well. 2T. at 303-305.
{¶ 11} In his official report, Inspector Winters reached the following conclusions about the fire:
After examination of the fire scene it was determined the fire originated in the basement on the bed. After examination of the fire scene, interviewing witnesses, interviewing the insured and using the levels of scientific certainty as discussed in the 2011 edition of NFPA 921; A Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigation, it is my opinion the ignition source for the fire was some type of open flame. The materials first ignited were blankets on the bed. The act or omission that brought the ignition source and the materials first ignited together was the deliberate act of a person or persons. Using these elements of a fire cause, the cause of the fire is incendiary.
{¶ 12} Winters' report concluded the fire was not an accident. 1T. at 250. Investigator Winters prepared a draft report. In that report, which he referred to as a template, he concluded the fire originated on the first floor of the residence. Winters maintains this was a typographical error, and should have read the fire originated in the basement of the residence. Additionally, the report contained several other errors not to be included in the final copy. Winters stated in his testimony at trial, the report that had included the alleged errors was not the final report. State v. Ayers, 5th Dist. Stark No. 2013 CA 00034, 2013-Ohio-5402, ¶9.
{¶ 13} Ayers's defense centered upon the allegation her young son started the fire. Id. at 3. The defense did not present any expert testimony during the jury trial. After the fire, Ayers's son did not appear to have any smoke exposure or soot on his person. Ayers's appeared to have smoke exposure and tested positive for soot residue on her person. Id. at ¶3.
{¶ 14} Winters interviewed Ayers at the hospital where she had been taken due to the cut on her hand. 2T. at 260. At the hospital, Ayers told Winters that she was in the basement folding clothes when she noticed Bubba was over by the mattress playing with a lighter. Id. at 261; Petition for Post-Conviction Relief, filed May 18, 2020 at Exhibit F. Ayers did not respond when asked by Winters if she had attempted to take the lighter away from the child. 2T. at 262. She was alerted to the fire when she saw a very small red glow. Id. She grabbed a blanket and began to attempt to smother the fire by beating it with the blanket. Id. When that only fanned the flames, Ayers said she attempted to get water from the washing machine to douse the fire. Id. Ayers pours a glass of water on the flames; however, it failed to extinguish the fire. 2T. at 262-263. She fell and cut her hand while retrieving a second glass of water. Id. Ayers indicated that the child remained in the basement the entire time that she was trying to put out the fire. 2T. at 263.
{¶ 15} Once he had completed his investigation of the fire scene, Inspector Winters went to the Massillon Police Department to interview Ayers. This interview included Patrolman Curtis Rucker of the Massillon Police...
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