State v. Bodine

• Decision Date: 07 May 2021
• Docket Number: 120,622,120,620
• Citation: 486 P.3d 551
• Parties: STATE of Kansas, Appellee, v. Stephen M. BODINE, Appellant.
• Court: Kansas Supreme Court

486 P.3d 551

STATE of Kansas, Appellee,

v.Stephen M. BODINE, Appellant.

120,620

120,622

Supreme Court of Kansas.

Opinion filed May 7, 2021.

James M. Latta, of Kansas Appellate Defender Office, argued the cause, and was on the briefs for appellant.

Matt J. Maloney, assistant district attorney, argued the cause, and Marc Bennett, district attorney, and Derek Schmidt, attorney general, were with him on the brief for appellee.

The opinion of the court was delivered by Standridge, J.:

Following the death of his girlfriend's three-year-old son, Stephen M. Bodine was convicted of first-degree felony murder, aggravated kidnapping, abuse of a child, aggravated endangering a child, aggravated assault, and criminal damage to property. Bodine appeals his convictions, raising several constitutional arguments and multiple trial errors. Based on the analysis set forth below, we affirm Bodine's convictions and dismiss in part.

FACTS

E.B. was born in March 2014. At the time of his birth, E.B.'s mother, M.M., and his father, C.B. (Father), were no longer in a relationship. Father had little contact with E.B. during the first two years of his life but started spending more time with him in late 2016 and early 2017.

M.M. started dating Bodine in October 2016. Soon after, Bodine moved into the Wichita home M.M. shared with E.B. In February 2017, Father began seeing changes in E.B.'s behavior. Father noticed E.B.'s speech and potty training regressed after he spent time at M.M.'s house, and E.B. choked and hit Father's other son. Father also observed bruises on E.B.'s body and wondered whether he was being abused at M.M.'s house. After Father advised M.M. of his concerns, she responded in a text message that he could not see E.B. again until she and Bodine decided otherwise. M.M. also told Father to stop contacting her and that she would be changing E.B.'s last name. Father tried to arrange visitation with E.B. by exchanging several text messages with Bodine in February and March 2017, but his efforts were unsuccessful.

After further communication with M.M. and Bodine failed, Father involved the court system, social services, and law enforcement in attempts to see E.B. and check on his welfare. M.M. and Bodine stopped attending court appearances and did not respond to welfare checks. Father, along with his family and friends, often sat outside M.M.'s house, hoping to see E.B. Father also reached out to M.M.'s neighbors and acquaintances to ask if anyone had seen M.M. or E.B. Father did see E.B. briefly on two occasions. In March 2017, Father and a co-worker went to M.M.'s house. When M.M. answered the door, Father saw E.B. and observed a gash between his eyes that ran to the tip of his nose. M.M. claimed the injury was from a fall. Father reported the incident to law enforcement, who were unable to contact anyone at the residence. Sometime in April 2017, Father drove by M.M.'s house and saw her and E.B. outside. Father pulled into the driveway to talk to E.B. and noticed he looked dirty and "smelled horrible." E.B. got into Father's car and asked to go to home with him. M.M. refused but said E.B. could go to Father's house the next day. Father tried to contact M.M. then, but she did not respond to his message. Father never saw E.B. alive again after this brief interaction in April 2017.

In July 2017, Father obtained a district court order granting him custody of E.B. But Father's continued efforts to gain access to E.B. were futile. Neighbors reported they had not seen M.M. or E.B. in a month or more. After learning that M.M. and E.B. might be in Oklahoma or Texas, law enforcement initiated a missing child investigation.

In August 2017, Father and his wife drove by M.M.'s house to look for E.B. Bodine came outside with a hatchet raised above his head and told Father to leave. Bodine then used the hatchet to deflate a tire on Father's vehicle. Father reported the incident to law enforcement, who issued a warrant for Bodine's arrest. Around this same time, the State charged M.M. with interference with parental custody. On August 30, 2017, law enforcement arrested Bodine and M.M. on these charges.

Although law enforcement conducted multiple searches of M.M.'s house in the two days after the arrests, E.B. was nowhere to be found. Three days later, on September 2, M.M.'s landlord contacted law enforcement after discovering a concrete structure that looked like "a little coffin" inside the laundry room. After chipping off a corner of the concrete structure, the landlord immediately smelled an odor leading him to believe E.B. was inside. Law enforcement discovered E.B.'s body inside the concrete structure. He was wrapped in several layers of bedding, towels, clothing, and duct tape. The medical examiner observed possible signs of blunt force injury to E.B.'s head, eye, and ear. Due to the decomposition of E.B.'s body, however, the medical examiner was unable to determine a cause, manner, or time of death.

The State charged Bodine in case No. 17 CR 2630 with aggravated assault and criminal damage to property for threatening Father and damaging his vehicle with the hatchet. In case No. 17 CR 3476, the State charged Bodine with two alternative counts of felony murder, two alternative counts of aggravated kidnapping, and one count each of abuse of a child (child abuse) and aggravated endangering a child (aggravated child endangerment). To support the felony-murder charges, the State alleged Bodine killed E.B. while committing the inherently dangerous felonies of child abuse and/or aggravated child endangerment. The district court consolidated the two cases for trial.

The State proceeded under an aiding and abetting theory at trial, alleging that Bodine and M.M. shared responsibility for E.B.'s death. M.M. agreed to testify as a witness for the State in exchange for her plea to reduced charges of second-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping, child abuse, and aggravated endangerment of a child. M.M. testified that within weeks of dating Bodine, he began physically abusing her regularly. According to M.M., Bodine used methamphetamine and other drugs daily, and he became more agitated and violent when he used drugs. M.M. said she became pregnant with Bodine's child but miscarried in January or February 2017. She believed the miscarriage was caused by Bodine dragging her through the house and punching her in the stomach. M.M. said she stayed with Bodine because he was her best friend and she considered him to be her husband.

M.M. testified E.B. was a well-behaved child, but Bodine disagreed and felt that E.B. whined too much and that M.M. allowed him to do whatever he wanted. M.M. said Bodine was not violent with E.B. initially, but Bodine's attitude toward E.B. changed sometime in March 2017. Bodine acted as though E.B. could do nothing right and told M.M. that E.B.'s behavior was not going to change unless a male figure was in complete control. M.M. allowed Bodine to set the house rules and agreed he could discipline E.B. E.B. had to "earn" everything, including clothes, food, and toys. Bodine's discipline involved sending E.B. to his room to stand with his arms behind his back for hours at a time. If E.B. moved at all, Bodine would hit him. If E.B. did not apologize, Bodine would punch, kick, or throw E.B. across the room or slam E.B.'s head into the wall.

M.M. also testified about Bodine's controlling behavior. He did not allow E.B. to go anywhere, and M.M. stopped communicating with anyone else to avoid conflict with Bodine. He installed surveillance cameras inside the house to make sure E.B. was standing still when he was being disciplined. And Bodine installed outdoor cameras because he did not trust M.M. and wanted to know who was at the house when he left. Bodine's physical violence continued to escalate. M.M. said Bodine sometimes made her beat E.B. She admitted to doing so on a few occasions, claiming that she inflicted less harm than Bodine did. Once, E.B. refused to apologize to Bodine, so Bodine insisted E.B. had to be treated like a dog to learn. To that end, Bodine forced E.B. to stand in the basement for six hours while naked. Bodine told M.M. to place a belt—with a chain attached—around E.B.'s neck. The other end of the chain was attached to a round weight. M.M. claimed she loosely placed the belt around E.B.'s neck so he could breathe, knowing that Bodine would have made the belt tighter. Bodine set up a camera in the basement to make sure E.B. remained standing and did not move. M.M. said that when Bodine awoke the next morning and saw that E.B. was upstairs, fully clothed, and eating breakfast in front of the television, Bodine was furious and "beat the crap out of [E.B.]," leaving him "covered in bruises from head to toe."

M.M. testified E.B. died sometime between May 18 and May 22, 2017. She was unsure of the exact date, claiming her memories were clouded by her own drug use at the time. M.M. advised that in the two or three days just before his death, E.B. was vomiting and could not keep anything down. After E.B. did not sleep one night, Bodine forced him to stand in a corner by the front door with his arms behind his back. M.M. testified E.B. stood there for a couple of hours before collapsing to the ground. Yelling at E.B. to stand, Bodine picked him up and slammed E.B.'s head into the wall. According to M.M., E.B. immediately collapsed on the floor and began screaming. M.M. said she carried E.B. into the bathroom, where he continued to scream and cry. When M.M. shouted to Bodine that something was wrong, he shoved her out of the bathroom and shut the door, leaving him alone inside with E.B. Around two to five minutes later, Bodine came out of the bathroom and M.M. observed E.B.'s head was wet, his body was lifeless, and he was not breathing. M.M. claimed she attempted CPR for 45 minutes but was unable to revive him. M.M. said Bodine told her not to call anyone for help. M.M. testified that she fell asleep holding E.B. but that his...