State v. Edward Lee Brewer
| Decision Date | 21 February 1997 |
| Docket Number | 97-LW-0410,95 CA 870 |
| Parties | STATE OF OHIO, Plaintiff-Appellee v. EDWARD LEE BREWER, Defendant-Appellant Case |
| Court | United States Court of Appeals (Ohio) |
COUNSEL FOR APPELLANT:[1] David H. McKenna, P.O. Box 760, 110 North High Street, Hillsboro, Ohio 45133.
COUNSEL FOR APPELLEE: Rocky A. Coss, Highland County Prosecuting Attorney, 149 East Main Street, Hillsboro, Ohio 45133.
DECISION
This is an appeal from a judgment of conviction and sentence entered by the Highland County Common Pleas court. The jury found Edward Lee Brewer, defendant below and appellant herein, guilty of aggravated murder in violation of R.C 2903.01(B) and aggravated robbery in violation of R.C 2911.01(A)(1).
Appellant assigns the following errors:
FOURTH ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR:
SEVENTH ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR:
"DEFENDANT WAS DEPRIVED OF THE RIGHT TO EFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL IN THE PROCEEDINGS AS GUARANTEED BY THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION AMENDMENT IV AND XIV AND THE OHIO CONSTITUTION ARTICLE I, SECTION 10." (sic.)
On May 20, 1994, appellant's housemate, Donald R. Baril, was found brutally murdered in the Greenfield, Ohio apartment shared by appellant and the victim. The victim's head appeared to have been forcefully and repeatedly struck with a blunt object and a kitchen knife protruded through the blanket covering the victims torso. A hammer, covered with hair and cellular tissue, was later found behind the bed.
On August 11, 1994, the grand jury returned an indictment charging appellant with one count of aggravated murder, R.C. 2903.01(B), and one count of aggravated robbery, R.C. 2911.01(A)(1). On January 27, 1995, appellant filed a motion requesting a continuance of the trial date in order to allow further consultation with his DNA expert witness. At the motion hearing held the same day, the trial court denied the motion. The court tried the matter on January 30, 31, February 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6, 1995.
At trial, the prosecution presented evidence suggesting that during the week before the body was found, appellant did not return to the apartment he shared with the victim. Witness Mary Kimball, an employee at Shaky Jake's bar in New Holland, Ohio saw appellant in the bar on the afternoon of Saturday, May 14, 1994. Appellant entered the bar intoxicated and was asked to leave when he spilled his drink. Kimball noticed that while in the parking lot of Shaky Jake's, appellant picked up a rock and intentionally broke the window of the pick-up truck he was driving. She also stated that he had a large amount of cash on him.[2]
Appellant apparently went from New Holland, Ohio to the Greenfield, Ohio home of Kenneth Greene. Greene, a former close friend of appellant's, testified that he saw appellant twice on Saturday, May 14, 1994. In the early afternoon of that day, appellant, driving a pick-up truck, had stopped at Greene's mother's home and asked Greene to go drinking with him. Greene refused. Appellant later reappeared, this time at Greene's home, at approximately 6:00 p.m. Kenneth Greene and his brother Michael Greene, who was also present, both testified that they had known appellant for years and had been drinking with him on numerous occasions. Both also testified that they had never seen appellant as intoxicated as he was that evening. Kenneth Greene testified that while there, appellant asked to borrow a gun, saying that he wanted "to put somebody out of their misery." Greene also testified, however, that appellant had never been a violent person. Greene added that due to appellant's intoxicated state, Greene did not take the request seriously.
Witness Prem Sharma testified that between Saturday night, May 14, 1994 and Tuesday night, May 17, 1994, appellant stayed at the motel Sharma manages in Washington Court House, Ohio. Sharma testified that appellant was drunk when he checked in and paid for the room in cash. Sharma testified that appellant was driving a pick-up truck the entire time he stayed at the motel.
At approximately 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning, May 17, 1994, appellant went to Rosie's Bar in Greenfield. Witnesses who were at the bar testified that appellant was already intoxicated. Appellant displayed some money while playing cards and explained that he had won the money playing pool in Washington Court House, Ohio.
Sometime on the morning of Wednesday, May 18, 1994, appellant apparently left the motel and went to Dean Skaggs' residence. Skaggs testified that several years before the murder he and appellant lived in the same hotel, and that he and appellant were friends. Appellant stayed there until May 20, 1994, the day the victim's body was found. Skaggs testified that while he had known appellant for years, Skaggs found the visit unusual because appellant had never stayed at his house before. Skaggs also testified that appellant had a large amount of money on him. Skaggs' friend Edith Bonds testified that Skaggs told her that appellant purchased food and alcohol for both of them while appellant stayed there. Bonds further testified that Skaggs proceeded to show her the food in the refrigerator.
The victim's daughter, Judy Baril, testified that on Friday, May 20, 1994, she became suspicious about her father's whereabouts because she had not heard from him in several days. At the Greenfield V.F.W., she learned that her father's pick-up truck had been seen at Dean Skaggs' residence. Ms. Baril went to Skaggs' house to investigate. At Skaggs' house, she found that appellant in fact possessed her father's truck. Appellant appeared intoxicated and indicated that he had taken her father to the Greyhound bus station in Chillicothe, Ohio on the previous Wednesday and that he (the victim) intended to visit his other daughter, who Judy Baril testified lives in North Carolina. Appellant explained that the victim had agreed to let appellant use the pick-up truck until the victim's return. Judy Baril testified that in the past, her father let appellant use the truck only when running an errand or performing some other specific task for the benefit of her father. She also testified that upon leaving Skaggs' residence, she believed that appellant was lying. She then called the police and reported her father missing.
Sgt. Ron Ward of the Highland County Sheriff's office went to Skaggs' residence that same day to investigate the missing person report. Sgt. Ward testified at trial that upon his arrival, he found appellant and Skaggs intoxicated. Sgt. Ward further testified that appellant told him he had seen the victim on Wednesday, when he allegedly took the victim to the Greyhound Bus station in Chillicothe, Ohio. Appellant also stated that the victim had given him permission to drive the truck while the victim was out of town. Sgt. Ward then advised appellant that the victim's family did not want appellant to drive the truck while the victim was missing. Sgt. Ward then left.
Later that evening at the Greenfield, Ohio V.F.W. club, Judy Baril, Janet Cottrell and Joyce Kerns located a key to Baril's father's apartment and let themselves in.[3] They found her father's body in his bed. He had clearly been dead for some time. After the police arrived on the scene, Sgt. Ward went back to Skaggs' residence in an attempt to question appellant. Appellant had left. Skaggs' testified at trial that after Sgt. Ward left his home earlier that day, appellant parked the truck behind Skaggs' house and left on foot. Later that night Greenfield Police Patrolman Russell Lowe and Highland County Sheriff's Detective Monty Rayburn took appellant into custody. The officers found appellant hitchhiking on Greenfield-New Martinsburg Pike. When the officers were getting out of the cruiser, appellant said "I've been looking for you guys all day." On the trip back into town, appellant volunteered an explanation for the seven dollars the officers found on his person. Patrolman Lowe testified that appellant said he made the money playing pool and cards in Washington Court House, Ohio.
The victim's son, Brian Baril, echoed his sister's testimony regarding the truck, stating that the victim was very protective of the truck and that he never simply turned it over to appellant to use as appellant wished. Additionally, Brian Baril testified that when he...
To continue reading
Request your trial