State v. Beasley
| Decision Date | 16 January 2018 |
| Docket Number | No. 2014–0313,2014–0313 |
| Citation | 2018 Ohio 493,153 Ohio St.3d 497,108 N.E.3d 1028 |
| Parties | The STATE of Ohio, Appellee, v. BEASLEY, Appellant. |
| Court | Ohio Supreme Court |
Sheri Bevan Walsh, Summit County Prosecuting Attorney, and Thomas Madden and Stephen Maher, Assistant Attorneys General as Special Assistant Prosecuting Attorneys, for appellee.
The Law Office of Donald Gallick, L.L.C., and Donald M. Gallick, Lakewood; and Donald R. Hicks, for appellant.
O'Connor, C.J.{¶ 1} A jury in Summit County convicted appellant, Richard Beasley, of the aggravated murders of Ralph Geiger, David Pauley, and Tim Kern and the attempted murder of Scott Davis. The jury recommended, and the trial judge imposed, three sentences of death. Beasley now brings this direct appeal of right.
{¶ 2} We affirm Beasley's convictions as well as his capital sentences. We vacate his sentence for his noncapital convictions and remand the case for the limited purpose of resentencing Beasley on those convictions.
{¶ 3} The state called 42 witnesses to establish the following facts.
{¶ 4} At one time, Ralph Geiger operated a successful construction business. But by February 2011, he was homeless and living at a shelter in downtown Akron. He left the shelter in early August 2011, telling the staff and a friend that he had a job on a farm in southern Ohio. Summer Rowley, a friend of Geiger's, testified that Geiger told her that he would not be able to talk to her from the farm because he would not have cellphone coverage. Although they had spoken daily when Geiger was at the shelter, after he left, she never heard from him again.
{¶ 5} On August 8, Geiger checked into the Best Western Hotel in Caldwell, a town in eastern Ohio between Cambridge and Marietta. Three adults were registered in the room for one night. Rowley identified Geiger's signature and the phone number on the hotel registration form as his, and she testified that the driver's license photocopied by the hotel at check-in belonged to Geiger.
{¶ 6} Beasley stayed for a few nights in the basement of the house of his friend Joyce Grebelsky on Cramer Avenue in Akron in the spring of 2011. Grebelsky testified that Beasley later asked her to start calling him "Ralph Geiger" because he wanted to be a different person and did not want to go back to jail.
{¶ 7} On August 31, 2011, "Geiger" submitted an employment application to Tech Center, Inc., listing a home address on Cramer Avenue and "Joyce Grabowski" as an emergency contact. The next day, "Geiger" submitted an employment application to Waltco Trucking Company, again using the Cramer Avenue address and identifying "Joyce Grebowski" as a reference. Alex Hartke, a Waltco employee, testified that he worked alongside "Geiger" in September and October 2011, and he identified Beasley as the man he knew by the name "Ralph Geiger."
{¶ 8} On September 19, 2011, "Geiger" opened a checking account at PNC Bank, using the Cramer Avenue address. Activity in the account included the deposit of two checks from Tech Center payable to "Ralph Geiger" and a check written to Grebelsky dated October 3, 2011.
{¶ 9} The day after he opened the PNC account, "Geiger" sought medical treatment for chronic pain at Akron Community Health Resources, Inc., where he was seen by Dr. Michelle Moreno. Dr. Moreno testified that the patient was seeking prescription painkillers. He told Dr. Moreno that he had had a cervical fusion, the result of an accident involving a dump truck, and had been seeing a doctor in Tijuana, Mexico, for narcotics. Dr. Moreno had him sign a medical release, treated his high blood pressure
, prescribed a nonnarcotic pain reliever, and told him to return in seven days. The man returned to see Dr. Moreno on September 27, 2011. In the interim, Dr. Moreno had tried without success to get records from the Tijuana clinic.
{¶ 10} Other witnesses testified about meeting a man in 2011 who called himself "Ralph Geiger." In July or August, Don Walters Sr. was introduced to a man who went by the nickname "Dutch." Once, while shopping together, Walters saw "Dutch" use identification in the name of "Ralph Geiger." And in August or September 2011, Joe Bais rented a room in his house on Shelburn Avenue in Akron to a man who went by the name "Dutch" but whose driver's license said "Ralph Geiger." At trial, Bais and Walters both identified Beasley as "Ralph Geiger" or "Dutch."
{¶ 11} In October 2011, Daniel DeWalt applied by e-mail to be the caretaker of a cattle farm in Caldwell, Ohio, a job he had found advertised on Craigslist. After receiving an e-mail response, DeWalt agreed to meet a man named "Jack" at the Chapel Hill Mall food court in Akron.
{¶ 12} When they met, "Jack" told DeWalt that his uncle, Bob Gaylord, owned a farm in Caldwell and needed someone to start work right away because a nearby road was blocked by a landslide. DeWalt filled out an application. A few days later, "Jack" offered DeWalt the job. DeWalt packed his belongings into a U–Haul trailer in preparation for the move.
{¶ 13} But problems arose. DeWalt told "Jack" that he was bringing his pistol. "Jack" initially said that was okay but then changed his mind, saying, "I'm the only one with a gun." DeWalt also told "Jack" that he had been unable to find the alleged property on the county auditor's website, indicating, "[T]his ain't adding up."
{¶ 14} Additionally, "Jack" wanted to buy DeWalt's SUV and truck. He asked to pick up the vehicles on a Friday, promising to pay on the following Sunday when they got to the farm. DeWalt objected, saying, "[W]hat if somebody is trying to get my vehicles before I come down there, and then when I get down there, shoot me and take my stuff." "Jack" replied, "[Y]ou shouldn't have said that," and indicated that now he needed to consult with his uncle. On October 15, 2011, DeWalt received an e-mail from "JG" at rohandannaher@gmail.com withdrawing the job offer. At trial, DeWalt identified Beasley as "Jack Gaylord."
{¶ 15} George Brown, semiretired from the concrete business, wanted a job to supplement his income. On October 7, he answered a Craigslist ad for a job taking care of cattle in southern Ohio. The ad promised a trailer to live in, a credit card, and $300 to $400 a month.
{¶ 16} Brown arranged to meet "Jack" at the Chapel Hill Mall food court. The interview was going well until Brown mentioned his lifelong involvement in martial arts, at which point "Jack" "kind of sat back in his chair." Brown also informed "Jack" that for a while, he had worked as a security officer. "Jack" pulled back Brown's application and abruptly ended the interview. Brown never heard from "Jack" about the job. At trial, Brown identified Beasley as "Jack."
{¶ 17} In October 2011, Dave LeBlond was looking for work. He responded to a listing on Craigslist for a job as a farmhand on a 300–acre farm. A man who identified himself as "Richard Bogner" interviewed LeBlond at the Chapel Hill Mall. During the interview, LeBlond told "Bogner" that he had a fiancée. He was never contacted again about the job. LeBlond identified Beasley as the man he met at the mall.
{¶ 18} David Pauley lived in Norfolk, Virginia. He had been unemployed for about two years when he responded to a Craigslist ad for a farm caretaker on October 9, 2011. Pauley told his twin sister, Debra Bruce, about a job opportunity he found through Craigslist on a 688–acre farm taking care of cattle for $300 a week. He would be provided a trailer to live in and could bring all his belongings with him. Sometime thereafter, Pauley told Bruce he had been hired and that he would be leaving Norfolk for Ohio on October 22. Pauley traveled to Ohio in his blue pickup truck, pulling a U–Haul trailer containing all his possessions.
{¶ 19} Bruce spoke to her brother twice on October 22, once to arrange payment for his hotel room in West Virginia and again around 8:00 or 9:00 p.m. She never heard from him again.
{¶ 20} Prior to October 23, Beasley told Don Walters that he had bid on a storage unit, like on the TV program "Storage Wars." At 1:09 p.m. on October 23, Beasley called Walters. He told Walters that he got the unit, that it came with a truck and a U–Haul full of things, and that he needed a place to store the items until he could sell them.
{¶ 21} Shortly after, Beasley arrived at Walters's home driving a blue Dodge pickup pulling a U–Haul trailer. At trial, Walters identified a photograph of the truck. Bruce identified that same photograph as Pauley's truck.
{¶ 22} Another car pulled in behind Beasley, driven by a young man Beasley introduced as his nephew. Walters later learned that the young man's name was Brogan Rafferty. The three men unloaded the trailer, which was filled completely with bags and crates, and put the items into Walters's garage. Among the items was a laptop computer.
{¶ 23} Beasley came back to Walters's house the next day, filling his truck twice with the items, including the laptop, that he wanted to take. He left behind the rest of the items, including an assortment of Christmas decorations that he said Walters could keep as payment for storing the items.
{¶ 24} Joe Bais, Beasley's former landlord, testified that in October, Beasley, whom Bais knew as "Ralph Geiger" or "Dutch," had a truckload of stuff, including ammunition cases containing nuts and bolts, Christmas lights, and train sets, that he offered to Bais in trade for his computer. Bais bought some of the Christmas lights and ammunition cases.
{¶ 25} On October 24, 2011, Carla Conley, a U–Haul employee in Akron, saw two men drop off a trailer that was supposed to be returned in Marietta. At trial, Conley identified Beasley as one of the men.
{¶ 26} ...
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