State v. Jackson, 2012–1644.
| Citation | 2016 Ohio 5488,149 Ohio St.3d 55,73 N.E.3d 414 |
| Decision Date | 24 August 2016 |
| Docket Number | No. 2012–1644.,2012–1644. |
| Parties | The STATE of Ohio, Appellee, v. JACKSON, Appellant. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Ohio |
Dennis Watkins, Trumbull County Prosecuting Attorney, and LuWayne Annos and Charles Morrow, Assistant Prosecuting Attorneys, for appellee.
Timothy Young, Ohio Public Defender, and Randall L. Porter, Assistant Public Defender; and Buell & Sipe Co., L.P.A., and Dennis L. Sipe, for appellant.
This is a death-penalty appeal as of right. A jury convicted the defendant-appellant, Nathaniel Jackson, of the aggravated murder of Robert Fingerhut, with two death-penalty specifications. Jackson was sentenced to death. This court affirmed Jackson's convictions and the death sentence on direct appeal. State v. Jackson, 107 Ohio St.3d 300, 2006-Ohio-1, 839 N.E.2d 362.
{¶ 2} During a subsequent appeal from the trial court's denial of Jackson's motion for a new trial, the Eleventh District Court of Appeals vacated the death sentence, holding that the trial judge's use of the assistant prosecutor to assist in preparation of the sentencing opinion was improper. The case was remanded to the trial court for resentencing. State v. Jackson, 190 Ohio App.3d 319, 2010-Ohio-5054, 941 N.E.2d 1221, ¶ 29, 33 (11th Dist.). On remand, the trial court again sentenced Jackson to death.
{¶ 3} For the following reasons, we affirm the trial court's resentencing of Jackson. Although we hold that in the sentencing opinion the trial court improperly failed to consider Jackson's allocution, the error was harmless and will be rectified by our independent sentence evaluation.
{¶ 4} Our previous decision in this case sets forth the facts in detail. 107 Ohio St.3d 300, 2006-Ohio-1, 839 N.E.2d 362, at ¶ 2–74. For purposes of this opinion, we summarize the facts as follows.
{¶ 5} Donna Roberts lived with Robert Fingerhut, her former husband, in Howland Township, Trumbull County. Fingerhut, who operated Greyhound bus terminals in Warren and Youngstown, owned two insurance policies on his life, both of which named Roberts as sole beneficiary. The total death benefit of the two policies was $550,000.
{¶ 6} At some point, Jackson began an affair with Roberts. In 2001, the affair was interrupted by Jackson's confinement in the Lorain Correctional Institution. While Jackson was in prison, he and Roberts exchanged numerous letters and spoke on the telephone. Prison authorities recorded many of their telephone conversations.
{¶ 7} Passages from the letters and telephone calls indicated that the two plotted to murder Fingerhut. Jackson repeatedly pledged to kill Fingerhut upon Jackson's release from prison. In one letter, Jackson wrote, At Jackson's request, Roberts purchased a ski mask and a pair of gloves for Jackson to use during the murder. On the day before Jackson was released, he and Roberts had one final recorded conversation. Jackson told her, He also told Roberts his plan:
{¶ 8} Jackson was released on December 9, 2001. Roberts drove to Lorain to pick him up, spent that night with him in a motel, and spent much of the next two days with him as well. On December 11, 2001, Fingerhut was shot to death at his home.
{¶ 9} When police responded to the crime scene, Roberts was hysterical and asked them to do whatever was necessary to catch the killer. She also reported that Fingerhut's car had been stolen. During a search of the house, the police found, in a dresser in the master bedroom, 145 handwritten letters and cards that Jackson had sent to Roberts. In the trunk of Roberts's car, the police found a bag with Jackson's name on it containing clothes and 139 letters that Roberts had sent to Jackson. On December 12, Fingerhut's car was found in Youngstown.
{¶ 10} On December 21, 2001, Jackson was arrested at a friend's house in Youngstown. Jackson had a bandage around his left index finger at the time of his arrest. The police seized a pair of bloodstained gloves with the left index finger missing and a pair of tennis shoes from the house. The tread pattern on the shoes was consistent with a shoe print left in blood near Fingerhut's body.
{¶ 11} During a subsequent police interview, Jackson said, "I just didn't mean to do it, man." He then related his version of what happened, essentially claiming that he shot Fingerhut in self-defense. Jackson claimed to have known Fingerhut for a couple of years. Jackson said that on the evening of December 11, he approached Fingerhut about getting a job at the Youngstown bus terminal. They met later that evening, and Jackson sold Fingerhut "some weed." He then asked Fingerhut if he could go to Fingerhut's house to "chill" before starting work the next day, and Fingerhut gave Jackson a ride to Fingerhut's home. According to Jackson, after they went inside the home, Fingerhut started making racial comments and other disparaging remarks toward him. Fingerhut then pulled a revolver, Jackson tried to grab it, and Fingerhut shot Jackson in the finger as Jackson reached for the gun. Jackson then took the gun from Fingerhut during the "tussle" and shot him twice. Jackson was unsure where the shots hit Fingerhut but said that Fingerhut was still breathing when Jackson fled the house and drove away in Fingerhut's car.
{¶ 12} Fingerhut's autopsy showed that he had been shot three times, including a penetrating gunshot wound
to the top of the head that was determined to be fatal. There was also a laceration between Fingerhut's left thumb and index finger, and further examination showed that the fatal bullet hit his hand before entering the top of his head. Gunshot residue on the body indicated that the distance from the muzzle of the firearm to the head wound
was 24 inches or less.
{¶ 13} Finally, expert testimony established that the DNA profile of bloodstains found inside Fingerhut's car and on its trunk-release lever matched Jackson's DNA profile.
{¶ 14} On December 28, 2001, a grand jury indicted Jackson on two counts of aggravated murder in violation of R.C. 2903.01(A) and (B). Both murder counts carried two felony-murder death-penalty specifications: murder during an aggravated burglary and murder during an aggravated robbery. R.C. 2929.04(A)(7). The grand jury also indicted Jackson on separate counts of aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery with a firearm specification on each count.
{¶ 15} During October and November 2002, Judge John Stuard presided over Jackson's capital-murder trial. Before a jury, the state presented numerous witnesses establishing the facts. The defense presented three witnesses whose testimony revealed that documents for most of the property shared by Roberts and Fingerhut named Roberts as the owner. This evidence was intended to undermine the financial motive for the killing asserted by the state. The jury found Jackson guilty as charged.
{¶ 16} At the conclusion of the penalty phase, the jury recommended death, and the court imposed the death sentence on Jackson.
{¶ 17} On January 4, 2006, we affirmed the verdict and sentence on Jackson's direct appeal. 107 Ohio St.3d 300, 2006-Ohio-1, 839 N.E.2d 362.
{¶ 18} In May and June 2003, Judge Stuard presided over the capital-murder trial of Donna Roberts. A jury found Roberts guilty of the aggravated murder of Fingerhut and other offenses, and she was sentenced to death.
{¶ 19} On August 2, 2006, we affirmed Roberts's convictions, including the convictions regarding aggravated murder and both death-penalty specifications. State v. Roberts, 110 Ohio St.3d 71, 2006-Ohio-3665, 850 N.E.2d 1168 ("Roberts I "). But we vacated the death sentence and remanded the case to the trial court because the judge had enlisted the assistant county prosecutor who tried the case to participate in drafting the sentencing opinion, and in doing so, had engaged in improper ex parte communications. Id. at ¶ 153–164. (Although Judge Stuard also presided over Jackson's trial, no allegation was raised in Jackson's direct appeal to this court that the prosecutor participated in drafting the sentencing opinion or engaged in ex parte communications with the judge during that trial, and our January 2006 opinion affirming Jackson's convictions and death sentence accordingly did not address any issues of that type.)
{¶ 20} We ordered the following relief in Roberts I :
On remand, the trial judge will afford Roberts her right to allocute, and the trial court shall personally review and evaluate the evidence, weigh the aggravating circumstances against any relevant mitigating evidence, and determine anew the appropriateness of the death penalty as required by R.C. 2929.03. The trial court will then personally prepare an entirely new penalty opinion as required by R.C. 2929.03(F) and conduct whatever other proceedings are required by law and consistent with this opinion.
{¶ 21} Following Roberts I, on August 15, 2006, Jackson filed a motion in the trial court for leave to file a motion for a new sentencing hearing.
{¶ 22} On October 5, 2006, Jackson's attorney filed an affidavit of disqualification against Judge Stuard, seeking to prevent the judge from acting on any further trial or postconviction proceedings. On November 29, 2006, Chief Justice Moyer denied that affidavit, stating:
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