State v. Campbell
| Decision Date | 10 April 2002 |
| Docket Number | No. 01-1057.,01-1057. |
| Citation | 765 NE 2d 334,95 Ohio St.3d 48 |
| Parties | THE STATE OF OHIO, APPELLEE, v. CAMPBELL, APPELLANT. |
| Court | Ohio Supreme Court |
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Ron O'Brien, Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney, and Steven L. Taylor, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for appellee.
David H. Bodiker, Ohio Public Defender, Joseph E. Wilhelm, Appellate Supervisor, Death Penalty Division, and Kelly L. Culshaw, Assistant Public Defender, for appellant.
Appellant, Alva E. Campbell, Jr., appeals his sentence of death for the aggravated murder of Charles Dials.
In 1972, Campbell was convicted of first-degree murder (former R.C. 2901.01) and sentenced to life imprisonment. Twenty years later, he was paroled. In 1997, he was arrested in Franklin County on a charge of aggravated robbery.
On April 2, 1997, Deputy Sheriff Teresa Harrison drove Campbell from the Jackson Pike Jail to Franklin County for his arraignment. Campbell was feigning paralysis and was in a wheelchair.
Around 12:30 p.m., Charles Dials was paying a ticket at the traffic bureau of the Franklin County Municipal Court. About the same time, Harrison parked in a courthouse loading dock and began to help Campbell out of the vehicle. Campbell suddenly assaulted her, stole her pistol, and fled.
Dials had just driven away from the courthouse in his pickup truck when Campbell ran out into the street. Campbell stopped Dials's truck and pulled open the driver's door. Campbell told Dials, "I don't want to hurt you; just move over." Campbell got inside and drove off with Dials.
Campbell drove to a K-Mart on South High Street. He parked there and talked with Dials, telling him not to be nervous. Then he drove to a factory on a side street. There, Campbell took Dials's money and made Dials exchange clothes with him.
Campbell then drove back to High Street, bought a forty-ounce bottle of beer at a drive-through, and returned to the K-Mart. In the parked truck he sat talking with Dials "probably a good 2 hours," according to his confession. A radio report on Campbell's escape mentioned that he had commandeered a red truck. Dials said, "That's you, ain't it?" Campbell admitted it was, and they talked a while longer.
Campbell then moved the truck behind the K-Mart, driving around the back lot three times before he finally chose a parking space. He told Dials to "get on the floor board of his truck." When Dials obeyed, Campbell shot him twice.
Campbell drove around to the K-Mart's main parking lot and waited. Eventually, Katie Workman drove in and parked near the truck. Campbell then tried to kidnap her. Workman escaped, although Campbell seized her wallet and car keys. Campbell then drove Workman's car to a nearby shopping center, where he tried to kidnap James Gilliam. Gilliam also managed to escape, leaving his car but keeping his keys.
Campbell drove around in Workman's car until a police officer saw him. He drove away from the officer, then abandoned the car and fled on foot. Campbell hid in a tree, but was spotted. When police surrounded the tree, Campbell dropped Deputy Harrison's gun and surrendered. In police custody, Campbell made a videotaped confession.
Campbell was indicted on four counts of aggravated murder. Each aggravated murder count carried four death specifications: murder to escape detection, apprehension, trial, or punishment, R.C. 2929.04(A)(3); felony-murder predicated on aggravated robbery, R.C. 2929.04(A)(7); felony-murder predicated on kidnapping, R.C. 2929.04(A)(7); and having a prior murder conviction, R.C. 2929.04(A)(5). The indictment also contained ten noncapital counts.
Campbell was convicted of all counts and specifications; the trial court merged the death specifications under R.C. 2929.04(A)(3) into the felony-murder death specifications. Thus, only three specifications were presented to the jury at the penalty phase. The jury recommended a death sentence and, after merging the four aggravated murder counts into one, the trial judge sentenced Campbell to death on Count Three.
Campbell appealed the judgment directly to this court pursuant to R.C. 2953.02 and Section 2(B)(2)(c), Article IV, Ohio Constitution. On December 20, 2000, we affirmed Campbell's convictions. However, we vacated the sentence because the trial court did not comply with the allocution provisions of Crim.R. 32(A)(1). See State v. Campbell (2000), 90 Ohio St.3d 320, 323-326, 738 N.E.2d 1178 ("Campbell I"). We remanded the cause to the common pleas court "with instructions to resentence Campbell on Count Three after directly asking him `if he * * * wishes to make a statement in his * * * own behalf or present any information in mitigation of punishment.'" Id. at 326, 738 N.E.2d 1178.
On remand, the trial court heard Campbell's allocution and considered an affidavit submitted by the defense. The court then sentenced Campbell to death. The cause is now before us upon an appeal as of right from the death sentence imposed on remand.
In this appeal, the sole issue to be resolved is whether we should approve Campbell's sentence of death. Under R.C. 2929.05, we must determine whether the evidence supports the jury's finding of aggravating circumstances, whether the aggravating circumstances outweigh the mitigating factors beyond a reasonable doubt, and whether the death sentence is proportionate to those affirmed in similar cases. Campbell contends that the aggravating circumstances present in this case do not outweigh the mitigating factors beyond a reasonable doubt and that death is therefore not the appropriate penalty for the murder of Charles Dials.
Campbell was convicted of three aggravating circumstances: one under R.C. 2929.04(A)(5), having a prior conviction of an offense involving "the purposeful killing of or attempt to kill another," and two under R.C. 2929.04(A)(7), felony murder predicated upon aggravated robbery and kidnapping.
The record clearly supports a conclusion that the (A)(5) specification is satisfied. State's Exhibit 1, introduced in the guilt phase, is a certified copy of a judgment of the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. It confirms that Campbell was convicted of the first-degree murder of William Dovalosky on October 20, 1972.
The evidence also supports both felony-murder specifications. Campbell's confession reveals that he killed Dials while committing kidnapping and aggravated robbery. Other evidence corroborates that confession. Courthouse securitycamera photos show Campbell hijacking Dials's truck. Dials was shot with Deputy Harrison's gun, which Campbell had stolen, and Campbell's palm print was found in the truck. Katie Workman identified Campbell as the man she encountered in the K-Mart parking lot. Finally, Campbell was arrested while wearing Dials's clothing.
A sentencer in a capital case must consider, as a mitigating factor, "any aspect of a defendant's character or record and any of the circumstances of the offense that the defendant proffers as a basis for a sentence less than death." Lockett v. Ohio (1978), 438 U.S. 586, 604, 98 S.Ct. 2954, 57 L.Ed.2d 973. See, also, Eddings v. Oklahoma (1982), 455 U.S. 104, 112, 102 S.Ct. 869, 71 L.Ed.2d 1. Under R.C. 2929.04(B), mitigating factors include "the nature and circumstances of the offense, the history, character, and background of the offender," and the factors set forth in R.C. 2929.04(B)(1) through (B)(7).
At the penalty phase, Campbell presented three witnesses in mitigation: his sister Gwendolyn, Sergeant Don Thomas of the Franklin County Sheriffs Department, and Dr. Jeffrey Smalldon, a clinical psychologist.
Upon remand to the trial court, Campbell elected to make a statement in allocution. Campbell expressed remorse for killing Dials. He spoke of his traumatic childhood, his religious conversion, and his health problems. He concluded by "throwing himself on the mercy of the Court" and asking for forgiveness. Campbell also presented an affidavit by Sergeant Froilan Ochoa, a correctional officer who knew Campbell from having worked on death row, in which Ochoa commended Campbell on his sense of responsibility and good behavior.
The nature and circumstances of the offense have little mitigating value. Campbell emphasizes that he drank at least forty ounces of beer during the crime. Although voluntary intoxication is a mitigating factor, see State v. Sowell (1988), 39 Ohio St.3d 322, 325-326, 530 N.E.2d 1294, it is a weak one. See State v. Otte (1996), 74 Ohio St.3d 555, 568, 660 N.E.2d 711.
Campbell stated in allocution that he had killed Dials by accident. However, the evidence does not support this contention. "The murder of Charles Dials culminated a kidnapping that lasted over two hours." Campbell I, 90 Ohio St.3d at 330-331, 738 N.E.2d at 1193. Cf. State v. Keenan (1998), 81 Ohio St.3d 133, 140, 689 N.E.2d 929; State v. D'Ambrosio (1993), 67 Ohio St.3d 185, 196, 616 N.E.2d 909. After carefully choosing the site of the murder, Campbell made Dials lie on the floor of the truck, then shot him at close range in the face and neck. As we said in Campbell I, 90 Ohio St.3d at 330, 738 N.E.2d 1178, this was "a calculated, execution-style murder."
As in many death penalty cases we have reviewed, Campbell's principal mitigation lies in the conditions to which he was subjected by his parents while he was a minor.
Campbell was born on April 30, 1948, one of six children raised in an abusive, loveless, amoral, and unstable environment. His parents got drunk every weekend. When drunk, they fought physically and verbally. Campbell's s...
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