State v. David Mapes
| Decision Date | 25 October 1984 |
| Docket Number | 84-LW-1287,47191 |
| Parties | STATE OF OHIO Plaintiff-Appellee v. DAVID MAPES Defendant-Appellant |
| Court | Ohio Court of Appeals |
Criminal appeal from Common Pleas Court Case No. CR-181,703.
For Plaintiff-Appellee: John T. Corrigan, Prosecuting, Attorney of Cuyahoga County, Justice Center - Courts Tower, 1200 Ontario Street, Cleveland, Ohio 44113.
For Defendant-Appellant: Paul F. Markstrom, Esq., Ohio Savings Building, Suite 208, 22255 Center Ridge Road, Rocky River Ohio 44116. Daniel Gaul, Esq., 517 Leader Building Cleveland, Ohio 44114.
SUPPLEMENTAL JOURNAL ENTRY AND APPELLATE REVIEW OF DEATH SENTENCE
Pursuant to the requirements set forth in R.C. 2929.05(A), this court independently reviewed all of the facts and evidence in the record as well as the judgment and sentence of the trial court. We find 1) The aggravating circumstance for which defendant was found guilty outweighs the mitigating factors presented in this case. 2) The death sentence is not excessive or disproportionate to the penalty imposed in similar cases. 3) The State proved beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant was guilty of the offenses and specifications for which he was convicted. 4) The trial court in making its determination properly weighed the aggravating circumstance and the mitigating factors. 5) The sentence of death is appropriate in this case.
Footnote 1 R.C. 2929.05(A) pertinently reads:
STATE OF OHIO Plaintiff-Appellee
v.
DAVID MAPES Defendant-Appellant
Court of Appeals of Ohio, Cuyahoga County.
October 25, 1984.
Criminal appeal from Common Pleas Court Case No. CR-181,703.
Modified and affirmed as modified.
For Plaintiff-Appellee: John T. Corrigan, Prosecuting, Attorney of Cuyahoga County, Justice Center - Courts Tower, 1200 Ontario Street, Cleveland, Ohio 44113.
For Defendant-Appellant: Paul F. Markstrom, Esq., Ohio Savings Building, Suite 208, 22255 Center Ridge Road, Rocky River, Ohio 44116. Daniel Gaul, Esq., 517 Leader Building, Cleveland, Ohio 44114.
Defendant, David Mapes, was found guilty by a jury of two counts of aggravated murder (R.C. 2903.01(B)). They also found defendant guilty of a specification under each count of aggravated murder for having a firearm on or about his person during the commission of the aggravated murder (R.C. 2929.71). Finally, the jury found defendant guilty of two counts of aggravated robbery (R.C. 2911.01) and one count of aggravated burglary (R.C. 2911.11). He was found not guilty of aggravating specifications one and two of aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary under each count of aggravated murder (R.C. 2929.04(A)(7)).
In a separate hearing conducted pursuant to R.C. 2929.022, the trial judge determined that defendant was guilty of the aggravating specification to the two counts of aggravated murder for violation of R.C. 2929.04(A)(5) which provides:
"Prior to the offense at bar, the offender was convicted of an offense an essential element of which was the purposeful killing of or attempt to kill another, or the offense at bar was part of a course of conduct involving the purposeful killing of or attempt to kill two or more persons by the offender." (Emphasis added.)
The jury recommended the death penalty after the subsequent sentencing hearing for the two counts of aggravated murder. The jury concluded that the aggravating circumstance outweighed any mitigating factors. The trial court independently determined that: "All of the alleged mitigating factors presented mostly by argumentation of counsel bear no weight whatsoever when compared to the single aggravating circumstance, that is, the purposeful prior killing in which the defendant willfully, feloniously and with malice aforethought did kill and murder John Clark." See Opinion of the Trial Judge in Capital Case, p. 5. The court sentenced defendant to death for the two counts of aggravated murder and to imprisonment for the other convictions.
We conclude that the two convictions for aggravated murder must merge. In all other respects, we affirm the convictions and sentences imposed by the trial court.
On Sunday January 30, 1983 between 7 and 8 a.m., John Allen was shot and killed during the course of an aggravated robbery at Chaps Bar (Chaps or bar) at 2408 Prospect Avenue in Cleveland. Defendant and Rodney Newton entered the bar through a broken window in the back of the building and walked to the bar where they heard voices. Mapes was carrying a sawed-off shotgun.
Several men were in the bar when Mapes and Newton entered. John Allen, the decedent and one of the owners of the bar, was standing at the bar talking to Ronald Rucci and Michael Williams. John Hovekamp, Jr. who lived at Chaps, was asleep in the pit area of the bar along with David Yun.
Mapes walked into the bar first and told the men that this was a robbery. Newton was standing directly behind defendant. Allen started to lift his hands and Mapes fired the shotgun. The decedent was shot in the face and died instantly.
Newton checked the registers behind the bar for money, but he did not find any as it had been previously placed in the vault for safekeeping. Mapes had Rucci and Williams lie on their stomachs and asked them where the money was. They told him that it was in the storage room. Money was taken out of Rucci's and Williams' pockets.
Until that point the defendant and Newton were unaware that Hovekamp and Yun were down in the pit area. Newton finally saw the two men and told Mapes. Mapes guarded the four men while Newton broke into the video game machines with a crowbar. Mapes eventually gave Newton the shotgun so that defendant could finish emptying the coins out of the machines. After the last of the machines was emptied, Mapes took the shotgun back, and they left the same way they entered. On the way out, Mapes attempted to open the safe but he was unsucessful.
Mapes was arrested for the murder of John Allen on February 8, 1983 at his apartment.
At trial Ronald Rucci testified that he observed the defendant enter Chaps on the Saturday night prior to the murder as a customer. He further stated that he and his partner, Michael Williams, had moved into the bar three days prior to the murder for the purpose of doing promotional work for Chaps. According to Rucci, the bar had closed at approximately 4 a.m. Sunday morning. Williams, Rucci and Allen were discussing plans for a Valentine's Day project when Mapes and Newton entered. While Rucci did not see the face of the man who carried the gun and killed Allen, he did testify the man had on a black leather coat.
At trial Newton testified for the state. He stated that he had been staying with Mapes and his wife, "Peaches", at their basement apartment in the Towne House Apartments about a week before the incident at Chaps. These apartments are located next door to Chaps. Mapes approached Newton about robbing Chaps two days before the incident, but Newton was opposed to the idea. Mapes again told Newton that he wanted to rob Chaps on the evening of January 29, 1983. He told Newton that he had already been inside, and he had seen power tools and mirrors that they could steal. At 2 a.m. on January 30, Mapes awakened Newton so they could break into the bar. After observing numerous people in the vicinity, they decided to return later. Newton stated that he and Mapes went back to the bar later that same morning. Newton testified that Mapes was the one who killed John Allen. He also said that Mapes was wearing a bluish-black leather jacket the morning of the murder.
The testimony of Newton further established that when the two men returned to their apartment, Mapes placed some shotgun shells into a sewer drain by the front door and stuffed the drain with newspaper. Mapes also washed his wrists with a grapefruit and asked his wife to wash his clothes. Newton stated that Mapes took the shotgun to the home of a sister of another Towne House Apartment resident, Leon Jenkins. Newton testified that Leon Jenkins took him to Twinsburg that same day. Newton was arrested in Akron on March 4, 1983. He gave a written statement to police shortly after his arrest.
John Hovekamp, Jr. testified that he was living and working as a carpenter at Chaps on January 30, 1983. He was asleep in the pit area of the bar when he heard a shot. He saw Williams crawling on the floor and heard Rucci yelling at him to keep his head down. He also heard the video game machines being broken into. Hovekamp identified Mapes as the man he saw carrying a shotgun during this event. A few days after the murder, he was shown approximately ten photos by police. He picked three. He told police that one in particular looked like the man he had seen with the shotgun. That photo was of David Mapes. On February 11, 1983 Hovekamp selected Mapes from a line-up.
Michael Reese testified that the defendant spoke to him in the Towne House Apartments' parking lot about robbing Chaps. Mapes told Reese that he had a gun. Mapes suggested that they break into the pinball machines with a crowbar which he had also acquired. Mapes further said that a Sunday morning would be the best time for a robbery because all the receipts from the week would be there. Reese stated that he saw a newscast of the Chaps murder and robbery on the evening of January 30, 1983. ...
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