State v. Hundley, No. 2018-0901

• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Ohio
• Writing for the Court: Kennedy, J.
• Citation: 162 Ohio St.3d 509,166 N.E.3d 1066
• Parties: The STATE of Ohio, Appellee, v. HUNDLEY, Appellant.
• Docket Number: No. 2018-0901
• Decision Date: 22 July 2020

162 Ohio St.3d 509
166 N.E.3d 1066

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

No. 2018-0901

Supreme Court of Ohio.

Submitted February 12, 2020
Decided July 22, 2020

Paul J. Gains, Mahoning County Prosecuting Attorney, and Ralph M. Rivera, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for appellee.

Rhys B. Cartwright-Jones and John P. Laczko, Youngstown, for appellant.

Kennedy, J.

162 Ohio St.3d 509

{¶ 1} On November 6, 2015, appellant, Lance Hundley, murdered Erika Huff and attempted to murder her mother, Mrs. Denise Johnson. After a trial, a Mahoning County jury convicted him of aggravated murder with a course-of-conduct specification, attempted murder, felonious assault, and two counts of aggravated arson. Following the jury's recommendation, the trial court sentenced Hundley to death on the aggravated-murder count.

{¶ 2} We now review Hundley's direct appeal of right and, for the following reasons, affirm his convictions and sentence of death.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Hundley moves in with Huff

{¶ 3} Huff lived at 44 Cleveland Street in Youngstown, Ohio. She had a progressive form of multiple sclerosis and could no longer walk. She was entirely dependent on a wheelchair, and a Hoyer lift was used to transfer her from her bed to the wheelchair. Huff received daily care and assistance from nurse aides employed by Comfort Keepers. The nurse aides would assist Huff with daily chores such as cooking and cleaning, getting in and out of bed, and getting dressed and undressed. Huff also wore a medical-alert necklace that was monitored by Guardian Medical. If the alert was activated, Guardian would call Huff's mother, Mrs. Johnson. An ambulance would also be dispatched to the address provided by Guardian.

{¶ 4} Huff's house was one story with an attached garage. The front door was in the center of the house and opened into the front room. To the left of the door was a living area and to the right, a dining area. The dining area contained a large oval table. A hallway from the front room led to the back of the house. The kitchen was

166 N.E.3d 1071

behind the dining area, with an entrance off the right-side of the hallway. At the end of the kitchen, opposite the entrance, was a door that led to

162 Ohio St.3d 510

the attached garage. Continuing down the hallway, at the end on the left, was Huff's bedroom. And to the right, across from Huff's bedroom, was a spare room in which the back door was located.

{¶ 5} In the summer of 2015, Hundley moved from Washington, D.C., to Youngstown. Huff, who had a daughter with Hundley's brother, offered him a room in her house sometime in the fall. According to Mrs. Johnson, Hundley had been living in Huff's house for approximately three to four weeks by early November. Mrs. Johnson was asked by the prosecutor whether the relationship between Huff and Hundley had become strained; however, the court sustained an objection to the question. The prosecutor then asked Mrs. Johnson whether Huff and Hundley were getting along. She testified that they got along but that their relationship was strained.

{¶ 6} According to A'Shawntay Heard, a nurse aide who had cared for Huff for years, Huff's demeanor changed after Hundley moved in, especially when he was around. Heard testified that Hundley was a controlling person and Huff would hold "a lot of stuff in" and not be as open as she had previously been. When Hundley would leave the house, Huff would say things to Heard, including that "she was just fed up with everything." Heard testified that she felt very uncomfortable when Hundley was at the house. She also said that Huff had lost caregivers because of Hundley.

B. Events of November 5 and 6, 2015

1. Huff's medical alert

{¶ 7} Heard was on duty at Huff's house on November 5, 2015. She worked a four-hour shift that ended at 10:00 or 11:00 p.m. Heard testified that she completed the typical evening-shift tasks and helped Huff get into bed. She made sure that Huff had access to her cell phone, snacks, and a grabbing aid. At Huff's request, Heard tucked the cash Huff had received from her monthly disability check underneath her thighs, between the bedsheet and Huff's body. Heard testified that the grabbing aid was not bent when she left the house that evening.

{¶ 8} According to Heard, Hundley was in and out of the house all evening. She testified, "I was in the kitchen cooking for [Huff] * * * [and] he was * * * making me feel uncomfortable, coming towards me. I had asked him please back away from me. And he did back away from me once I asked him. Like, he's trying to just hit on me." Hundley told Heard that he "needed some type of mental help and he wasn't from the area." Heard gave him the name of a local counseling center.

{¶ 9} Just before she left the house, Heard gave Huff her personal cell-phone number. This was against company policy, but Heard said that she gave Huff her number because Heard "had felt that whole day [that] something just wasn't

162 Ohio St.3d 511

right or something was going to happen." She felt uncomfortable because Hundley "was in the home * * * that night and he was drinking." When Heard left, Hundley was not there.

{¶ 10} At 2:01 a.m. on November 6, Huff's medical-alert necklace was activated and an ambulance was dispatched to 44 Cleveland Street. Brittany Koch and her partner, licensed emergency medical technicians ("EMTs"), received a dispatch for an "unknown medical alarm." Koch testified that they received an address but no further information, such as a name, gender, or age. When they arrived at 44 Cleveland Street, they noted that there was one light-colored car in the driveway

166 N.E.3d 1072

and the lights were on behind the drawn blinds; they knocked on the front door and identified themselves. Initially nobody responded, so the EMTs knocked on doors and windows. Still receiving no response, Koch attempted to open the front door, but it was locked.

{¶ 11} The EMTs had been at the house a couple of minutes and were preparing to check the back of the house when a tall African-American man—who was later identified by Koch as Hundley—opened the front door. Koch testified that the man was wearing a red hat and a dark hooded sweatshirt. The man told her that he had accidentally triggered the medical alarm and nothing was wrong. Under the belief that the man was the patient, Koch and her partner told him to call back if he needed help. According to Koch, the man was calm and polite and did not seem anxious.

2. Hundley attacks Mrs. Johnson

{¶ 12} Shortly after the activation of Huff's medical alert, Guardian called Mrs. Johnson. Mrs. Johnson testified that she got to Huff's house no more than ten minutes after receiving the call. Mrs. Johnson parked in the driveway behind a white car that she did not recognize. She also stated that she did not see an ambulance. As she unlocked the front door, she noted that the top lock was locked, which was unusual because it was the practice of the nurse aides to lock only the bottom lock.

{¶ 13} Mrs. Johnson entered the house and found Hundley standing inside with a gasoline can. She smelled gas, and when she asked Hundley where Huff was, he said that she was in the back. Mrs. Johnson told Hundley that she was there to check on Huff and to let first responders in because the medical-alert necklace had been activated. Hundley told Mrs. Johnson that the first responders had already gone. Mrs. Johnson then picked up the gasoline can, which Hundley had set on the floor, and took it to the attached garage through the door in the kitchen.

{¶ 14} When Mrs. Johnson reentered the kitchen, Hundley attacked her. Hundley pinned Mrs. Johnson between the refrigerator and the door to the

162 Ohio St.3d 512

garage and began to hit her on the head with a hammer. Mrs. Johnson testified that during the attack, Hundley told her he had killed Huff and would also kill her and Huff's brother. When Mrs. Johnson asked why, Hundley told her that Huff "wanted to have sex with [him] and she was disrespecting [his] brother." Hundley also expressed to Mrs. Johnson his belief that Huff and her family just "weren't into him." At one point, Mrs. Johnson told Hundley to stop and reached for him, but Hundley admonished her to not "touch [him] with those bloody hands and get [his] white $150 shirt all dirty." Mrs. Johnson testified that the shirt was white, and it had "some kind of emblem on it or something."

{¶ 15} Hundley continued to beat Mrs. Johnson with the hammer. But he then grabbed a kitchen knife and held it to Mrs. Johnson's face while choking her and dragging her through the house. Mrs. Johnson lost consciousness.

{¶ 16} When Mrs. Johnson regained consciousness, she was lying on the floor of Huff's bedroom next to her daughter. Mrs. Johnson saw flames burning...