State v. Frazier

• Decision Date: 10 October 2007
• Docket Number: No. 2005-1316.,2005-1316.
• Citation: 2007 Ohio 5048,873 N.E.2d 1263,115 Ohio St.3d 139
• Parties: The STATE of Ohio, Appellee, v. FRAZIER, Appellant.
• Court: Ohio Supreme Court

873 N.E.2d 1263

115 Ohio St.3d 139

2007-Ohio-5048

The STATE of Ohio, Appellee, v. FRAZIER, Appellant.

No. 2005-1316.

Supreme Court of Ohio.

Submitted April 4, 2007.

Decided October 10, 2007.

Julia R. Bates, Lucas County Prosecuting Attorney, and David F. Cooper and Eric A. Baum, Assistant Prosecuting Attorneys, for appellee.

Spiros P. Cocoves, Toledo and Ann M. Baronas, for appellant.

LUNDBERG STRATTON, J.

{¶ 1} In this appeal, defendant-appellant, James Frazier, raises 24 propositions of law. We find that none of his propositions of law have merit and affirm Frazier's convictions. We have also independently weighed the aggravating circumstances against the mitigating factors and have compared Frazier's sentence of death to those imposed in similar cases, as R.C. 2929.05(A) requires. As a result, we affirm Frazier's sentence of death.

{¶ 2} The evidence at trial established that, on the morning of March 2, 2004, James Frazier entered 49-year-old Mary Stevenson's apartment and murdered her by strangling her and slitting her throat. Frazier stole two of her purses and fled the scene. Subsequently, Frazier was convicted of the aggravated murder of Stevenson and was sentenced to death.

State's Case

{¶ 3} The evidence at trial established the following facts. Frazier and Stevenson were both residents of the Northgate Apartments in Toledo. Northgate is a federally subsidized apartment complex, and the residents are low income and either elderly or disabled. Frazier was supported by Social Security disability income, and Stevenson suffered from cerebral palsy.

{¶ 4} During the late summer or early fall of 2003, Frazier baked a cake for Stevenson. Later, Stevenson took the cake pan to Cindy Myers, a social worker at Northgate Apartments, and asked Myers to return the pan to Frazier. Stevenson asked Myers to "tell him thanks for baking the cake but she could do that herself, and * * * she also had a boyfriend." Myers returned the cake pan to Frazier and told him, "Mary said thank you for baking the cake but she can bake herself * * * and not to do it anymore." Frazier responded, "[O]kay."

{¶ 5} On the evening of March 1 and in the early morning of March 2, 2004, Frazier and a group of individuals smoked crack cocaine and drank alcohol inside Frazier's third-floor apartment.

{¶ 6} During the drug party, Frazier provided Chastity McMillen with $200 to $300 worth of crack cocaine without charge. At some point, Frazier's guests ran out of crack. Frazier called someone to deliver more crack, and he also called someone for money to buy it. More crack was brought to Frazier's apartment later that night.

{¶ 7} Frazier was wearing jeans and a white T-shirt during the party. At some point during the evening, Frazier left the party. When he returned, Frazier was not wearing a shirt.

{¶ 8} At 7:17 a.m. on March 2, Frazier made a 911 call to report a woman at the complex lying on the laundry-room floor, having seizures. Paramedics met Frazier at the apartment, but no one needing medical attention was found in the laundry room.

{¶ 9} Stevenson lived alone in a first-floor apartment at Northgate. She supported herself on Social Security benefits. Because of her condition, Stevenson had limited mobility and difficulty speaking. Her apartment was located about 20 to 30 feet from the laundry room and 15 feet from the elevators close to one of the stairways.

{¶ 10} On March 1, Bill Gangway, Stevenson's boyfriend, and Stevenson talked on the telephone, and they agreed to meet at her apartment the next day. Around 9:00 a.m. on March 2, Gangway knocked on Stevenson's apartment door, but she did not answer. Gangway remained at Northgate for the rest of the day and unsuccessfully tried to contact Stevenson three or four times. At 4:15 p.m., Susan Adams, Northgate's assistant manager, checked on Stevenson. After receiving no answer to her knocking, Adams entered Stevenson's apartment and found her lying on the bedroom floor, dead. Adams then called 911.

{¶ 11} Around 5:00 p.m. on March 2, police arrived at Stevenson's apartment. Stevenson's body was near the foot of her bed. Stevenson's throat had been slashed, and blood had pooled underneath her head and shoulders. She was wearing a nightgown that was tucked into the front of her underpants.

{¶ 12} Police examining Stevenson's apartment found no signs of a struggle, forcible entry, or indication that her apartment had been ransacked. Stevenson's purse and identification cards were missing, and police found no cash in her apartment. Stevenson's apartment key was discovered on her wheelchair in the living room. No knife or other possible murder weapon was found in Stevenson's apartment. However, a knife was missing from the knife holder on the kitchen counter.

{¶ 13} Police used an alternate light source to look for semen or other bodily fluids in Stevenson's bedroom, but police found no evidence of semen on Stevenson's bed, bed sheets, robe, or anything else in the bedroom. Police also searched the area around the apartment building and the Dumpster that was used by first-floor residents, but no evidence was found.

{¶ 14} On March 3, 2004, police investigators examined the sealed trash compactor-Dumpster that was used by Northgate residents living on the second through the tenth floors. During the search, investigators found Stevenson's clutch purse, which contained her birth certificate, bank card, and library card. Two bills addressed to Frazier were located near the clutch purse. Investigators also found Stevenson's Social Security and Medicaid cards, her large black purse, and a Fruit of the Loom T-shirt, size double X, 50 to 52, that had been turned inside out. Frazier is six feet one inch tall and weighs 250 pounds. A knife that matched the set of knives in Stevenson's kitchen was also found and appeared to have blood on it. No money was found in Stevenson's two purses.

{¶ 15} Investigators returned to the police station with the evidence collected from the trash. Bloodstains were detected on the front of the white T-shirt and tested positive for the presence of human blood. The T-shirt and the knife were sent to the lab for DNA testing.

{¶ 16} On March 4, 2004, investigators executed a search warrant of Frazier's apartment. There, police seized two T-shirts that were the same size and had the same manufacturing tags as the T-shirt found in the trash compactor.

{¶ 17} At approximately 2:30 p.m. on March 4, Toledo detectives William Seymour and Denise Knight conducted a videotaped interview of Frazier. After being advised of his Miranda rights and waiving them, Frazier stated that sometime after 6:00 a.m. on March 2, he went to the laundry room with a basket of bedding and found a woman lying on the laundry-room floor. According to Frazier, he knocked on Stevenson's door and said he needed to call 911. Stevenson let Frazier into her apartment. Frazier then called 911 and told the operator that there was a lady lying on the laundry-room floor at Northgate Apartments. Frazier left Stevenson's apartment and waited for the paramedics.

{¶ 18} Frazier said Stevenson was fine when he left her apartment. Stevenson locked the door when he left. Frazier said he did not return to Stevenson's apartment after making the 911 call.

{¶ 19} Frazier said the lady was gone when he returned to the laundry room. He told the arriving paramedics that he did not know what happened to the lady. Frazier says he asked Francis Clinton, a fifth-floor resident who was in the laundry-room area, about the lady, and she said, "I didn't see nobody."

{¶ 20} At approximately 9:45 p.m. on March 4, 2004, Detectives Seymour and Knight conducted a second videotaped interview of Frazier. According to Frazier, he watched TV at a friend's apartment until midnight or 1:00 a.m. on March 2. Frazier then returned to his apartment. Sometime after 6:00 a.m., he took a light load of bedding to the laundry room. He repeated that he found an unidentified lady lying on the laundry-room floor, went to Stevenson's apartment, and called 911.

{¶ 21} Frazier said, "Nothing happened out of the ordinary" when he was in Stevenson's apartment. Frazier said that Stevenson had a beautiful personality but claimed, "I never looked at her in a sexual way." He claimed that he was impotent, so he had no interest in sex. Frazier denied throwing away anything that belonged to the victim. However, he admitted, "I threw that T-shirt away." Frazier said, "I did not do this."

{¶ 22} Surveillance cameras at Northgate Apartments provided coverage of the elevators, the main entrances, and the parking lots. However, there were no cameras in the main stairwell next to the laundry room. Police reviewed the surveillance tapes and tracked the movements of Frazier and other residents on the evening of March 1 and the morning of March 2.

{¶ 23} Cameras show Francis Clinton entering the laundry room with a load of clothes at 6:30 a.m. on March 2 and then departing. At 7:16 a.m., Frazier entered the laundry room with a small bundle of clothes under his arm and then left and walked towards Stevenson's apartment.

{¶ 24} At 7:19 a.m., Clinton returned to the laundry room. At 7:24:11 a.m., Frazier came back to the laundry room with the bundle of clothes under his arms, took a quick look inside, and walked away. At 7:25:02 a.m., Frazier took the elevator to the third floor with the bundle still under his arms. At 7:25:25 a.m., Frazier got out on the third floor. He returned to the elevator at 7:25:50 a.m. without the bundle.

{¶ 25} At 7:25:58, Clinton left the laundry room and returned to the fifth floor. At 7:26:12 a.m., Frazier returned to the laundry room, took another quick peek inside, and left. At 7:26:44 a.m., Frazier and the paramedics entered the laundry room. At 7:27:14 a.m., they departed. Frazier wore a white T-shirt during this entire sequence of events.

{¶ 26} At trial, Detective Seymour testified that the third-floor garbage...