State v. Christopher Bell
| Decision Date | 06 May 1993 |
| Docket Number | 62325,93-LW-1942 |
| Parties | STATE OF OHIO, Plaintiff-Appellee v. CHRISTOPHER BELL, Defendant-Appellant |
| Court | Ohio Court of Appeals |
Criminal appeal from Common Pleas Court Case No. CR-260396.
For Plaintiff-Appellee: STEPHANIE TUBBS JONES, ESQ., Cuyahoga County Prosecutor, MICHAEL D. HORN, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, The Justice Center, 1200 Ontario Street, Cleveland Ohio 44113.
For Defendant-Appellant: ALAN C. ROSSMAN, ESQ., 330 Standard Building, Cleveland, Ohio 44113.
Appellant, Christopher Bell, was indicted by the Cuyahoga County Grand Jury on November 29, 1990 on one count of aggravated murder, in violation of R.C. 2903.01, with specification; one count of attempted murder, in violation of R.C. 2903.02, with firearm specification; two counts of stolen property, in violation of R.C. 2913.51, with violence specification; and one count of having weapon while under disability, in violation of R.C. 2923.13.
At the close of the state's case, the trial court, pursuant to Crim.R. 29, reduced the aggravated murder charge to murder with a firearm specification.
On July 24, 1991, the jury found appellant guilty on all counts. The trial court, pursuant to a bench trial, found appellant guilty on the weapon disability charge.
The trial court imposed the following sentences on appellant plus costs.
Appellant appeals as of right, and for the following reasons, we vacate in part and affirm as modified.
The facts are as follows:
Ronald Green testified that on November 14, 1990, at about one o'clock a.m., he was a passenger in an automobile driven by Vance Triplett. At the intersection of Shaw Avenue and Hayden Avenue in East Cleveland, Ohio, while they waited at the traffic light, a white Oldsmobile with its bright lights on pulled behind their car. They had passed the white automobile earlier as they turned onto Shaw Avenue. The car pulled along the passenger side of their automobile.
The driver of the white Oldsmobile, who was later identified as appellant, Christopher Bell, stared at them and then rolled his window down. Green also rolled his window down. Bell then said "Y'all niggas got a problem or something." Green replied, "Do you." Bell then said, "Yea." and fired at them. The first shot hit Green in the face and more shots were fired. The white automobile drove off. Triplett got out of the car and fell on the grass. The last word Triplett said was "I am tired." Green recognized the driver of the white automobile because the automobile was three feet away from them and there were street lights at the intersection. Greed described the driver of the automobile to the police as a light skinned guy with an Afro curl, wearing a black jacket and a black hat. He was unable to identify anyone from the first photo array shown to him at the hospital. He identified Bell in a subsequent photo array.
Officer Mark Trzcinski of the East Cleveland Police Department testified that he was the first officer on the scene of the shooting on Shaw Avenue on the morning of November 14, 1990. When he arrived, Green was conscious and the first words he uttered were "A white Olds Cutlass." He repeated these words several times. Officer Trzcinski found Triplett lying on the tree lawn in front of 13420 Shaw Avenue. He appeared to be dead. He found no weapons at the scene.
Officer Jeffery Hall of the East Cleveland Police Department testified that he arrived at the scene of the shooting at about 1:30 a.m. on November 14, 1990. He recovered eight spent .380 casings at the scene. He observed a Cadillac in front of 13517 Shaw Avenue and Vance Triplett in front of 13420 Shaw Avenue. He recovered a spent bullet from the passenger side floor board of the Cadillac.
Detective Robert Kalvitz of the East Cleveland Police Department testified that he went to Huron Road Hospital on the morning of November 14, 1990 to interview Ronald Green. Green gave him a description of the man who shot him.
On November 19, 1990 Detective Kalvitz showed Green a photo array and he was unable to identify anyone. On November 28, 1990 Kalvitz showed Green another photo array and he picked out Bell as the man who shot him and Triplett. Kalvitz showed him photographs of a white Cutlass Oldsmobile, a black cap and a black leather jacket. He told Kalvitz that they looked similar to the ones he saw on the morning of the shooting. On December 4, 1990, Kalvitz showed Green another photo array consisting of five photographs. Green again picked out Bell as the driver of the white Oldsmobile and the man who shot him and Triplett.
Detective Kalvitz testified he went to 1820 Noble Road, on account of a telephone call to the station by one Monica Harris. Ms. Harris called the station to report that she had information regarding a suspect in a homicide. Kalvitz went to the apartment building in the company of another officer to speak to Ms. Harris. On arrival, they noticed a white Oldsmobile Cutlass in the parking lot of the building. Kalvitz remembered that the automobile involved in the killing of Triplett was similar to the one in the parking lot. Upon further investigation, he noticed that the steering column did not match. The license plate was registered to Perron Williamson, while the vehicle identification number matched an automobile reported stolen from Mansfield, Ohio.
Kalvitz testified that Ms. Harris informed them that Bell had indicated to her that he shot two people at the intersection of Hayden Avenue and Shaw Avenue. Kalvitz showed Ms. Harris a photograph of Bell whom she identified as the man who told her about the shooting. Kalvitz was directed to Ann Edwards' apartment by Ms. Harris.
Kalvitz went to Ann Edwards' apartment. Ms. Edwards came to meet Kalvitz and the other officers. She identified herself and informed them that Bell was in the apartment. Bell came out of the apartment and was placed under arrest after his eights were read to him. Kalvitz testified that when Bell was placed under arrest, he said, "Oh, you're trying to put the shooting from Hayden and Shaw on me." Kalvitz stated that Bell made the statement before he was informed of any shooting.
Kalvitz testified that Ann Edwards told the police she had information about the Hayden/Shaw shooting. She signed a waiver and consent to the search of her apartment. When asked if there were guns in the house, she brought out a duffle bag belonging to Bell. The bag contained a .12-gauge gun, a loaded .357 automatic, a Reuger revolver, a .380 magazine clip with ten live rounds, a box of shotgun shells, titles to automobiles, a screwdriver and other papers. She gave Kalvitz keys to two automobiles, a black leather jacket and a cap. Kalvitz discovered two welfare identification cards with Bell's picture inside the white Oldsmobile which belonged to Robert Stillwell of Mansfield.
Bell testified only at the suppression hearing. He denied making any statements regarding the shooting at Shaw and Hayden Avenues. He admitted living in the apartment with Ms. Edwards. He has lived there for about six months. He kept some of his possessions in that apartment. At the time of his arrest, he did not have any other address. He admitted owning the white Oldsmobile Cutlass and the Pontiac Trans Am, which were discovered to be stolen vehicles. He admitted ownership of the duffel bag and its contents.
Monica Harris testified at trial that she was at Ms. Edwards' apartment on the night of November 13, 1990 with Bell and Ms. Edwards, drinking. Bell left the apartment sometime after midnight to purchase more beer. He returned about 60 minutes later with beer, guns and clothing. He had one shotgun, a revolver, an automatic handgun and two ammunition clips in a plastic bag.
According to Ms. Harris, Bell appeared wild as he came into the apartment. He was wearing a black leather jacket and a black Raider's cap with his eyes bugged out real wide and his hair standing.
Bell told them that they would not believe what he had just done. He said, "he just shot two guys on the corner of Shaw and Hayden and he unloaded on them." He emptied one clip, reloaded and shot them, because they were following him.
He went to the store after the shooting. He asked Ms. Harris to keep his guns until he could get rid of them. She returned the guns to Bell after she found out about Triplett's death. Bell informed Ms. Harris that he had gotten rid of the automatic weapon.
She first mentioned the incident to her friend, Detective Patterson. When the officers came to her apartment, she told them that Bell did the shooting. She told them that Bell was in Edwards' apartment. She gave the officers a Florida license plate left in her apartment by Mr. Bell. The Florida license plate and the Pontiac Trans Am were identified by Robert Grossman as his plate and his Pontiac Trans Am, which was stolen on October 17, 1991.
Richard Turbok testified that he is a firearm examiner for the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation. He examined and compared the eight spent .380 casings recovered from the scene of the shooting and the one .380 found in the Trans Am and another found in the victim's automobile, and concluded all ten cartridge casings were fired from the same weapon. He also compared the casings to the .380 magazine found in the duffel bag and concluded that they are...
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