State v. Johnson
| Docket Number | 112172 |
| Decision Date | 18 January 2024 |
| Citation | 2024 Ohio 158 |
| Parties | STATE OF OHIO, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. ARMOND JOHNSON, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | Ohio Court of Appeals |
1
2024-Ohio-158
STATE OF OHIO, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
ARMOND JOHNSON, Defendant-Appellant.
No. 112172
Court of Appeals of Ohio, Eighth District, Cuyahoga
January 18, 2024
Criminal Appeal from the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Case No. CR-19-641950-A
Michael C. O'Malley, Cuyahoga County Prosecuting Attorney, and Kevin R. Filiatraut, Brandon A. Piteo, and Kristin M. Karkutt, Assistant Prosecuting Attorneys, for appellee.
Daniel J. Misiewicz, for appellant.
JOURNAL ENTRY AND OPINION
KATHLEEN ANN KEOUGH, A.J.
{¶ 1} Defendant-appellant, Armond Johnson, appeals his convictions arising from the aggravated murders of David Cousin, Takeyra Collins, and her
children, Armond Johnson, Jr., and Aubree Stone. For the reasons that follow, this court affirms the convictions and sentence.
I. The Indictment
{¶ 2} In July 2019, a Cuyahoga County Grand Jury issued a 26-count capital indictment against Johnson charging him with four counts of aggravated murder, an unclassified felony under R.C. 2903.01(A) (Counts 1-4); four counts of aggravated murder, an unclassified felony under R.C. 2903.01(B) (Counts 5-8); two counts of aggravated murder, an unclassified felony under R.C. 2903.01(C) (Counts 9-10); four counts of aggravated murder, an unclassified felony under R.C. 2903.01(D) (Counts 11-14); two counts of aggravated burglary, in violation of R.C. 2911.01(A)(1), felonies of the first degree (Counts 15-16); three counts of aggravated arson, in violation of R.C. 2909.02(A)(1), felonies of the first degree (Counts 17-19); one count of aggravated arson, in violation of R.C. 2909.02(A)(2), a felony of the second degree (Count 20); one count of kidnapping, in violation of R.C. 2905.01(A)(3), a felony of the first degree (Count 21); two counts of endangering children, a violation of R.C. 2919.22(A), a felony of the third degree (Counts 22-23); two counts of having weapons while under disability, in violation of RC. 2923.13(A)(2), a felony of the third degree (Counts 24-25); and one count of tampering with evidence, in violation of RC. 2921.12(A)(2), a felony of the third degree (Count 26).
{¶ 3} Death penalty specifications were attached to Counts 1 through 14. Specifically, Counts 1-14 each contained a course-of-conduct specification (R.C.
2929.04(A)(5)); Counts 1-7 and 9-14 each contained a specification that Johnson was under detention or an escape (R.C. 2929.04(A)(4)); Counts 1-14 each contained three felony-murder specifications (R.C. 2929.04(A)(7) - aggravated burglary, aggravated arson, and kidnapping); Counts 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, and 13 each contained a specification that the murder victim(s) were under the age of 13 (R.C. 2929.04(A)(9)); and Counts 4, 8, and 14 each contained a murder-to-escape detection specification (R.C. 2929.04(A)(3)).
{¶ 4} Counts 1-21, 24, and 25 each contained both one- and three-year firearm specifications. Counts 15-21 each contained a notice of prior conviction (RC. 2929.13(F)(6)) and repeat violent offender specifications (R.C. 2941.149(A)).
{¶ 5} Johnson demanded a jury trial but waived his right to a jury trial on Counts 24 and 25, having weapons while under disability, and on all notice of prior conviction and repeat violent offender specifications as charged in Counts 15-21 - electing to have those counts tried to the bench.
II. Jury Trial
A. The Guilt Phase
{¶ 6} Between 10:40 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. on July 8, 2019, Anthony Geiter heard gunshots outside his residence on East 63rd Street in Cleveland, causing him to get down on the floor. He stated that while he was on the floor, he smelled something burning but that the smell eventually dissipated. Geiter said that afterward, as he headed to bed, he looked out the window and saw a white SUV drive up and park on the street. He testified that he observed a female exit the
vehicle and walk toward the back of a house located across the street. Geiter stated that the woman then walked back to her vehicle and drove off a short time later.
{¶ 7} Daniesha Mapp testified that on July 8, 2019, she planned on meeting up with David Cousin at his residence in the upstairs apartment of 3708 East 63rd Street in Cleveland. She testified that she and Cousin had been in a relationship since they were teenagers. Mapp explained that the entrance to Cousin's apartment was located in the back of the house and Cousin would either come downstairs to let her in when she called or would leave the door unlocked if it was too late. She testified that she called Cousin on her phone at around 11:30 p.m. or 11:40 p.m. that night as she drove over to his house, but he did not answer his phone. Once Mapp arrived at Cousin's apartment, she parked her car behind Cousin's vehicle, which was parked on the street across from his residence, and walked up the driveway to the back of the house. Despite the presence of Cousin's vehicle, he did not answer his phone nor unlock the door as he normally would, and no lights were on in his apartment. According to Mapp, she found this odd, but after multiple unanswered phone calls, she left and drove home. The state played home-surveillance video taken from the neighbor's house showing Mapp arriving at the residence, returning to her car, and driving away.
{¶ 8} The next morning, on July 9, 2019, Lisa Carl returned home from work. She stated that she lived in the downstairs residence of the front house located at 3708 East 63rd Street in Cleveland. Carl testified that the address also included a rear residence where Takeyra Collins, her two children, and Johnson
had just moved in a few months prior. Carl told the jury that as she walked her dog in the vacant lot next to her home, she discovered a deceased man in the field laying face-down with a gunshot wound to his neck. She called 911 and later discovered that the deceased person in the field was Cousin, her upstairs neighbor.
{¶ 9} Detective William Feian testified that on July 9, 2019, he was working basic patrol when he received a call to respond to East 63rd Street for an unresponsive male found in a vacant field. He stated that EMS was already there when he arrived. Detective Feian said that he secured the scene and started gathering information, including setting up a grid system around the field to search for possible shell casings because the victim had been shot twice. He stated that officers discovered a shell casing in the field.
{¶ 10} Detective Feian testified that he and other officers also canvassed the area for witnesses. He stated that when they approached the rear residence of 3708 East 63rd Street, he could smell smoke, but could not see inside the window. He was able to open the window from the outside and when he moved the blinds covering the window, he "saw little feet. * * * Children, little children's feet." (Tr. 2184.) The detective testified that he notified his supervisor, Lieutenant Jerry Tucker, and then gained access to the home by climbing through the window. He discovered that the children he saw from the window were deceased. Detective Feian also discovered a deceased female in the back bedroom. The deceased individuals were identified as Collins and her children, Armond and Aubree.
{¶ 11} The jury watched video from Lieutenant Tucker's body camera that showed the children laying on the bedroom floor and the condition of the home. The jury also viewed photographs depicting the same. Detective Feian described that the home "smelled like smoke, it was charred, it was dark and very hard to breathe in the home because it was very like - like I said soot, smoke damage. All the walls were blacked with smoke damage." (Tr. 2189.) When asked if he was involved further in the investigation of the matter, he responded, "I was involved with placing the defendant under arrest." (Tr. 2194.)
{¶ 12} Kevin Walsh, a detective with the Cleveland Division of Police, Crime Scene Unit, testified that he processed, documented, photographed, and collected evidence at the two crime scenes. While the jury viewed the photographs of Collins's residence, Detective Walsh testified about the fire and smoke damage to the walls, ceiling, and furniture, and he identified two McDonald's Happy Meals in the kitchen. He also photographed items discovered in the bedroom where Collins's body was found, including a gasoline can on the floor, a pile of burned clothes next to the bedroom door, blood spatter, one spent bullet casing, and one fired bullet. Detective Walsh stated that he also observed an iPhone on the arm of the couch that, according to him, appeared to have been unaffected by the fire inside the home.
{¶ 13} Cleveland police Detective Michael Shay testified that he collected DNA swabs from items inside the residence, including the gasoline can in the bedroom found next to Collins's body and the cell phone on the arm of the fire-
damaged couch. According to Detective Shay, "[n]o one stores a gas can in their bedroom, nobody. * * * We want to swab that gas can." (Tr. 2290.) Shay also testified that he believed the gas can was important because he observed pronounced fire damage to the overall house, but the gas can was not damaged by the fire.
{¶ 14} Brian Kenney, a detective with the Cleveland Fire Investigation Unit, investigated the fire at 3708 East 63rd Street. He recalled there being a strong odor of gasoline in the home. With the help of Connor, an accelerant sniffing canine, he discovered two points of incendiary fire - Collins's bedroom, where her body was discovered, and on an overstuffed chair in the living room. Detective Kenney believed that the fire was likely first set in the bedroom and then the person closed that door and then set the fire in the living room as the person left the home through the front door. He said that while the fire created a substantial amount of damage in the home, it did not destroy the entire home because the double-paned...
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