State v. Baker
| Decision Date | 09 May 1996 |
| Docket Number | No. 90APA09-1095,90APA09-1095 |
| Citation | 676 N.E.2d 143,111 Ohio App.3d 313 |
| Parties | The STATE of Ohio, Appellee, v. BAKER, Appellant. * |
| Court | Ohio Court of Appeals |
Michael Miller, Franklin County, Prosecuting Attorney, and Steven Taylor, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for appellee.
David H. Bodiker, State Public Defender, and David E. Klaus, Assistant Public Defender, for appellant.
This is an appeal by defendant, Thomas E. Baker, from a judgment of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas following a jury verdict in which defendant was found guilty of felonious assault.
On January 18, 1989, defendant was indicted on one count of felonious assault, in violation of R.C. 2903.11. The indictment also included a firearm specification. The matter was tried before a jury beginning on August 21, 1990. The case is before us after granting defendant's request to file a delayed appeal.
The state's first witness at trial was Columbus Police Officer John Massie, who testified that on January 8, 1989, he was on a plainclothes assignment looking for stolen cars in the city's sixth precinct. At approximately 1:00 a.m., the officer was sitting in an unmarked blue AMC Concord, at the intersection of Atcheson and Graham, when he noticed two cars travelling eastbound on Atcheson at a high rate of speed. It appeared to the officer that the cars were either "chasing each other or following each other."
Officer Massie began following the vehicles. Eventually, one of the cars made a left turn onto Bassett Avenue while the other car continued eastbound. Officer Massie followed the vehicle which had turned onto Bassett Avenue. He followed the vehicle down an alley and the car eventually made a stop at Graham, just east of Maryland Park. As Officer Massie pulled up behind the car, the driver, identified at trial as the defendant, got out of the car armed with a gun. According to Massie, the defendant "jumped out, had a gun in his hand, went to a two-handed pistol grip and started firing shots at my car."
When the shots were fired, Officer Massie was still in his vehicle. The defendant fired several shots into Officer Massie's car and then started to approach the driver's side of the officer's vehicle. As the defendant continued to fire off shots, Officer Massie began to return fire from inside the vehicle. Officer Massie fired five shots through the window of his vehicle, breaking the glass. The defendant was about three feet from Massie's vehicle when the officer began returning fire.
Officer Massie attempted to fire a sixth shot but realized that he had already fired off all the rounds he had in the gun. Massie stated that the defendant then
Officer Massie then radioed for assistance. He watched the defendant run back to the car and motion to a passenger in the car, later identified as the defendant's brother, Larry Baker, to follow him. The defendant's brother moved over to the driver's side, drove away and made a left turn onto Graham while the defendant tried to get inside the car. The defendant eventually motioned to his brother to drive on. Officer Massie followed the car while the defendant ran between houses along Atcheson. The car subsequently went off the left side of the road and struck some parked vehicles. The defendant's brother got out of the vehicle and started running. Officer Massie pursued him on foot and apprehended him at the intersection of Emerald and Taylor.
Columbus Police Officer Steve Rossiaky testified that he was dispatched to Atcheson Avenue in the early morning hours of January 8, 1989, where he observed Officer Massie signalling with a flashlight. Officer Rossiaky assisted Massie in handcuffing the defendant's brother. Officer Massie indicated that the gunman was still at large.
Columbus Police Sergeant Gary Mathias was also dispatched to Atcheson Avenue on the night of the incident. As Officer Mathias was driving southbound on Taylor Avenue, he observed a man matching the description of the gunman. Officer Mathias noticed that the man was bleeding from a bullet wound in his arm. Officer Mathias and his partner placed the man under arrest.
Officer Rossiaky subsequently heard a radio dispatch indicating that a suspect had been stopped at Taylor Avenue. Officers Massie and Rossiaky drove to the area and Massie identified the defendant as his assailant.
The first witness testifying on behalf of the defendant was Willeanna Baker, the wife of Larry Baker. Baker testified that, on the evening of January 7, 1989, at approximately 9:00 p.m., an argument arose at her residence between Georgetta Wright and Robin Cason. Wright wanted Cason to come out of Baker's house. Baker went outside and told Wright to get away from the front of the house. Larry Baker then came outside and tried to calm down Wright. According to Baker, when her husband turned his back on Wright, she came up from behind "to try to cut him in the back, and I swung and moved her out of the way."
Baker testified that the defendant was visiting that night and had fallen asleep inside the house. Defendant was awakened by the noise and he came outside and yelled at Wright, causing Wright to run up the street. At about 10:30 p.m., Wright's brother, Richard Wright, who Baker referred to as "Minuteman," came to the Baker residence and knocked on the door. Minuteman was angry about the incident involving his sister, and he told Baker to "tell your husband for me that he doesn't be swinging at my sister because I take care of my family." Baker told Minuteman, "your sister was wrong, and she came at my husband with a knife and he threw her off the porch, and I swung back to get--to catch her from stabbing him in the back."
Baker testified that, while Minuteman was at the door, another man was standing by the side. Minuteman told Baker to "tell your husband that I have something for him." Baker responded, "no, you just going to have to take it up with me." Baker testified that Minuteman then told the man at the side of the house to "cap her." Baker testified that the defendant was in the house behind the door listening to the conversation. When Minuteman told the man to "cap her," Baker shut the door and she and the defendant heard the men running. Baker went to the back of the house and the defendant went out the front of the house. Baker saw the men jump into a blue car sitting in the alley.
Baker then called the police to inform them that two men were outside her residence "threatening to shoot me." Two police officers subsequently arrived at the Baker residence. Baker testified that her husband and the defendant subsequently left the house that night in defendant's car with the defendant driving.
On cross-examination, Baker stated that neither of the two men standing outside her house knew that the defendant was behind the door. Baker stated that she was not aware that either her husband or the defendant had a gun.
The defendant testified on his own behalf. On January 7, 1989, the defendant visited the residence of his brother and sister-in-law to drink beer and socialize. While there, the defendant fell asleep and was awakened by the sound of his brother screaming that "no girl was going to stab him with a knife." The defendant went outside and observed a woman with a knife in her hand.
After the woman left the area, the defendant's brother drove into town to pick up his daughter, leaving Willeanna Baker and the defendant at the house. The defendant and Baker later heard a knock on the door. The defendant got behind the door while Baker went to answer the knock. The defendant heard Baker tell the man at the door that her husband was not home. The defendant testified that he heard a man standing off to the side ask the man at the door, "do you want me to cap her?"
Eventually, the men left and the defendant persuaded Baker to call the police and report the incident. The defendant's brother returned to the house after picking up his daughter. The defendant and his brother then left in defendant's car for defendant's residence. As the defendant drove to the intersection of 20th and Atcheson, a blue car pulled in front of him and did not move. The defendant then passed the car and when defendant later came to a stop sign, the blue car pulled up directly behind the back bumper of defendant's car. The defendant proceeded on Atcheson, past Maryland Park, at which time he determined that the car was following him. The defendant then attempted to elude the car, but the car continued to follow him.
The defendant eventually turned onto Graham Avenue and parked on the side of the street. The defendant then gave the following testimony:
The defendant testified that he began running in the direction of a hospital, darting through several backyards until he got to Taylor. As he was walking down Taylor, he saw a...
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